Before Cameron Artis-Payne finished 2014 as the lead rusher in the Southeastern Conference and bounced into the national spotlight as a second- or third-round pick for the NFL, he was breaking school records at Allan Hancock College for rushing yards and touchdowns scored.
He switched out his Bulldogs’ jersey to become an Auburn University Tiger two years ago, and on Jan. 24, he will showcase for fans, teams, and the media at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
“Cameron is really special to the coaching staff at Hancock,” said Kris Dutra, the school’s head football coach. “Not just because he’s going pro. It’s because he’s the best running back I’ve ever coached.”
Artis-Payne started his football ascent at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Penn. George Chaump, the storied former head coach of the Navy and Marshall University’s Thundering Herd, met Artis-Payne while coaching there. Artis-Payne, whose father and uncle were running backs, told Chaump he wanted to be better than fellow Harrisburg native LeSean McCoy, a running back for the Philadelphia Eagles.
According to Chaump, Artis-Payne was “not cocky, but had great confidence. You talk to him, there was nobody better.” On the field, he was “not flashy, but consistent.” Artis-Payne was a “hard-nosed kid” with “moxie” and “attitude,” a “give-me-the-ball, I’ll make yards” type.
“Doggone it,” Chaump said, “he had a knack to make yards and make people miss him.”
After Harrisburg, Artis-Payne briefly attended the Milford Preparatory Academy in New York. He then languished for a couple of years before linking up with Hancock.
“Cameron came along with another player,” Dutra said. “He was not initially recruited. We didn’t discover him or anything like that. … I guess he was sitting around and doing nothing.”
A former coach of Artis-Payne tipped off Hancock when the college was courting another one of his athletes. Hancock, a state leader in rushing, convinced Artis-Payne to come out for a visit.
“I wanted the opportunity to play college football at the highest level, and I thought Allan Hancock would give me that opportunity,” Artis-Payne said of his decision to head for Santa Maria.
Soon after he hit the college field, Artis-Payne was breaking records at Hancock. In a 10-game stretch, he rushed some 2,100 yards.
“When’s the last time a college running back ever did that?” Dutra asked.
On the field, he was still that hard-nosed kid, not flashy but given to occasional spurts of genius. In October 2012, Hancock was hosting the L.A. Harbor Seahawks, a formidable team that stayed even with Hancock until late in the fourth quarter. Dutra said that while the referee was turned away, an L.A. Harbor defender shoved Artis-Payne in the face as he was getting up.
“Cameron got up and shoved him back and got flagged,” Dutra continued. “He said, ‘You need to leave me in. I said, ‘Cameron, it’s not your turn in rotation.’”
But Artis-Payne insisted, and with less than two minutes left in the game, he ran 84 yards for a touchdown to secure a 50-44 win over the Seahawks.
At Hancock, Artis-Payne grew from that potential football player on his couch into a valuable recruit for Auburn, the 2010 national champions and pigskin titans of the Southeastern Conference.
“If I would have went to another junior college, I’m not sure I would be where I’m at. [Dutra] taught me a whole lot, a lot about being a man,” Artis-Payne said. “We talked every day, about life and school and football or whatever. Coach Dutra is one of the biggest reasons that I’m here right now. Coach Dutra and Coach Ross never lied to me, always told me the truth and what they thought.” Dutra said Artis-Payne developed a lot of character at Hancock and figured out what he would need to do in order to propel forward as a player. All that growing just added to the fact that he was already a special player, born to be great.
“There [were] times when he really struggled at Hancock. I think he really grew up here,” Dutra said.
At 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, Artis-Payne is a mid-sized running back—big enough to shake off a tackle, but small enough to slip through a hole. With a 4.5 second 40-yard dash, he’s not as explosive or as fast as some of his peers. The key to what makes him special is the way he reads the game. Artis-Payne said it was the Bulldogs’ coaching staff that propelled him to Auburn and into the NFL draft.
“Until I went to Allan Hancock, I just reacted. But if you know what the defense is doing, you can anticipate better,” Artis-Payne said. “It allowed me to play at a higher level because I knew what the defense was going to do.”
Dutra said Artis-Payne learned how to read the defense because he paid attention during chalk sessions and always wanted to know why the other team did what they did.
“He has a knack for that; he’s pretty smart,” Dutra said.
Today, Artis-Payne boasts a degree in public administration from Auburn. At 1,482 yards and 11 touchdowns for the season, he proved a workhorse whose consistency pulled Gus Mahzlan’s fearsome power-running offense forward. He drives an ’02 Jaguar X-Type, is big on steak and potatoes, and can play as a digital version himself in NCAA Football.
“Kids want to flash,” Dutra said. “They want to do something that everybody goes ‘WOAH!’ It’s not popular to be down for the grind anymore. Cameron is a grinder, a put-his-helmet-on-and-go-to-work. That kind of guy.”
Sean McNulty is a contributing writer for the Sun. Reach him through Managing Editor Camillia Lanham at clanham@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 22-29, 2015.