Recruiting Spotlight: Camden Langerman – Brainerd (2022)

It was a tough season for everyone involved in high school sports last year. One example of a program that struggled even to get games were the Brainerd Warriors. They were able to play four games and finished the abbreviated season with a 1-3 record. Of those four games – although he played in them all – Warriors’ linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="49883" first="Camden" last="Langerman"] was only healthy for one of those contests. Now he is back healthy and ready for a better senior year. "We played hard and gave it our all," Langerman said. "We played some tough teams, but that is not an excuse." It is not an excuse, but the three teams the Warriors lost to had a 16-6 combined record. Langerman wouldn’t use it as an excuse either, but he could not play up to his potential as a junior. "It wasn’t the season I wanted. I had a couple of injuries that kept getting at me during the season. It wasn’t perfect, but I did my best. I got taken out a couple of games in the 3rd and 4th quarters because of my knee and hip flexor. I wish I could have been healthy, but I felt like I played aggressively and played as well as I could." "I bruised my knee in a practice after our first game," Langerman continued. "It would swell up a lot, and the range of motion just wasn’t there. My hip flexor injury came from my hips having to over-compensate for my knee. One injury kind of caused the other." Despite playing through pain, the then-junior was in the starting lineup every week. "I played outside linebacker, and last year I was usually on the left side – we didn’t have a strong and weak-side linebacker. I will be playing outside linebacker this year. I think I will usually be on the pass-heavy side." The Warriors play a base 3-4 defense. "I think I am a versatile linebacker," Langerman told prepredzonemn.com. "I can drop back and play zone coverage – I can play a little man too. I love the aggression of playing the run, playing off the edge, and blitzing. I can excel at that." Not able to buy a break, Langerman’s left knee gave him the problems last season. During the offseason, he did the same thing to his right knee. He is ready to go but will be wearing a knee brace on the right side during the season. In between injuries, he was able to get in plenty of off-season work. "In the winter, I was in the weight room. We have a new strength coach this year and do a little bit of everything. We switch between low reps, high weight, high reps, high intensity, low weight stuff. It varies depending on where we are in the program. In the spring, I play lacrosse. It is nice to have another physical sport like that to keep me in shape. I think it is a lot of fun." Like in the weight room, Langerman worked on a little bit of everything on the football field. "I worked on a little bit of everything, but with our strength coach, we did a lot of change of direction stuff." Recruiting has recently picked up for the Warriors’ senior. "I didn’t get much recruiting stuff until this winter, so this spring and summer, I went to some junior days and had some camp invites. I have a lot of interest from DIII schools and some DII schools. I went to a St. Thomas camp. I went to a South Dakota camp and a North Dakota State camp. I have visited Augsburg and Gustavus. I got a roster offer from Augsburg and Concordia-Moorhead." At 5’10" 195 pounds, Langerman is counting on schools looking past physical numbers. "I hope they see my aggressiveness. I am not the biggest guy. I am not going to tower over everybody, but I know the game and understand it." Hopefully, they see possibly the best part of Langerman’s game – his toughness and ability, and desire to play even when his body is not at one hundred percent.