(Full statistics from the game)
It wasn’t supposed to go like this.
Not for an ETSU team coming off a 7-5 season. Not against a Campbell team that went 2-10 in 2025.
Instead, a Herculean performance by Camels quarterback Kamden Sixkiller flipped any script that might have survived from the end of the 2025 campaign to the start of this one. Sixkiller racked up 438 yards of total offense and four touchdowns as Campbell stunned ETSU 49-37 on Saturday in the mutual season opener for both teams. Campbell dealt ETSU its first-ever loss in a home opener at William B. Greene Stadium. The Bucs were 9-0 in home debuts in their recent digs since the facility opened.
In his postgame meeting with the media, Will Healy talked about how playing well at home mattered to him. The Bucs certainly showed flashes, especially on offense, but this was not a well-played game for ETSU. The Bucs allowed 514 yards of total offense and committed two turnovers, both on lost fumbles. ETSU struggled with porous play from a secondary that was expected to be improved with so many returning pieces, and failed to generate a pass rush.
“We had some really, really bright spots defensively. Had a couple stops and then we had just like, holy cow, how does that happen? Fourth-and-11 and third-and-whatever,” Healy said. “We seemed discombobulated, especially in the secondary.
“You don’t play well against a team like that, it has enough offensive firepower, and I thought they had some good players on defense. They will beat you at home and you will be feeling the way I feel getting on the dadgum elevator, peeing away an opportunity for the first game of the season. So frustrating.”
Frustrating was an apt word to describe the evening for ETSU. The Bucs spent most of the game playing catchup, as Campbell scored a touchdown on its opening drive and seven of its 11 offensive possessions. The Camels held ETSU scoreless in the third quarter, key in a game that became a shootout with more than 1,000 yards of total offense, and led by as many as 18, 42-24, early in the fourth quarter. That score ballooned when Campbell stripped ETSU quarterback Mason Mims of the ball, and Justin Garza scooped it up and returned it 39 yards to the doorstep of the Buc end zone. A 1-yard scoring plunge by Devon Thomas was all it took.
From the press box, it appeared as if Mims was in the middle of attempting a throw and the play was reviewed, but the call on the field got upheld.
“I saw the running back, he was open,” Mims said, meeting with the media for the first time since he committed to ETSU. “Tried to get it out quick, and it slipped out of my hand.”
That was the most egregious mistake in an otherwise solid ETSU debut for Mims. He completed 33 of 41 passes for 373 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception or getting sacked.
“I think he’s got a chance to be really good,” Healy said. “I promise you my plan was not to drop back and throw it 41 times. … we got in a situation where we were playing catch-up and they’re dropping eight guys and we made it hard on ourselves to throw the football. But he still found ways to get the ball to some of our wideouts.”
“I wasn’t really nervous,” said Mims, who transferred in after redshirting last season at Louisville. “I was more anxious.”
It was the first time Mims had thrown the ball in a true game since his senior season of high school in Oxford, Alabama … almost two years ago.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a little bit faster,” Mims said regarding the pace of the college game. “Going against our guys, I got used to the speed, but we can’t really prepare to be hit and all that. But yeah, once I completed my first pass, I mean, I’m kind of settled in.”
Sixkiller, meanwhile, was a returning quarterback for Campbell and looked as comfortable as a housecat, especially with the pass protection he was getting. He dissected ETSU with his arm then started breaking off some runs late in the game, including a 14-yard designed bootleg touchdown with 1:53 remaining that all but cemented the Campbell victory after the Bucs had narrowed that 42-24 deficit down to 42-37.
“That quarterback was really good,” said ETSU linebacker Dre Delinois, who led the Bucs with 11 tackles. “They did a pretty good job, disguising a couple plays for him.”
When asked how different Campbell looked on Saturday compared to game footage from 2025, Delinois said, “I think we beat ourselves a little bit. Like I said, communication. … We were there. We had good opportunities. Just communication.”
Mims spread the ball around. He completed five or more passes to four different targets. Charlie Browder had seven grabs and was targeted seven times, finishing with 56 yards through the air, though he did commit a fumble on ETSU’s final offensive play, as the Bucs were trying to drive for a touchdown, knowing they would have to recover an onside kick and score again to complete the comeback. Brandon Winton, a Knoxville native and product of the powerhouse Alocoa High program who transferred in from USF, had six catches for 46 yards, including a 6-yard TD grab from Mims that saw him fight off multiple defenders, haul in the ball and somehow remain in the field of play. Two more transfers, Suderian Harrison (Virginia) and Trey Weary (Tennessee) had five catches each. Harrison racked up 99 yards receiving and Weary had 42 with a touchdown.
“They make my job a lot easier,” Mims said of his receiving corps. “I just know if I can get it to them in a particular space, they’re going to make a play.”
Healy said he was “really proud” of Mims. “We’re lucky to have him. Love his competitiveness. I thought he grew up a lot. Tonight he did not look like a guy making his first start. … Mason’s going to do exactly what I do and that is go look himself in the mirror and say, ‘What could I have done a better job of?’ And he’s going to beat himself up over three or four different plays because that’s how competitive he is. But we had a chance to win because of him tonight.”
Healy acknowledged the secondary play was lacking, even though one of the storylines of preseason practice was the expected improvement by the defensive backfield with several key players returning.
“Was it a lack of communication? Was it we didn’t put ourselves in the best call? Was it a guy just getting beat making a play?” Healy said. “We’ll look at all that on film tomorrow and figure out how we can put ourselves in the best position to have success and work on getting stuff fixed.”
The lack of a pass rush certainly did not help.
“I think he did a good job of extending plays with his feet. And I also feel like that their offensive line did a really good job,” Healy said. “I expected to get more pressure on him. We weren’t able to get him down. And so I still feel the same way about our defensive line. I think that we’re going to create pressure and be able to get some sacks, but that didn’t show up tonight.”
And that means the Bucs find themselves right where they did after their first game in 2025, off to an 0-1 start.
“So it’s not my first time having to respond from disappointment, adversity. This is this team’s first time,” Healy said. “You’re careful about giving the ‘This ain’t going to happen again’ speech because we got a lot of stuff to fix before. I can tell you this ain’t going to happen again. But I do believe there’s a lot of competitive dudes in that locker room that don’t want it to happen again.
“And we’ve got to play cleaner football to give ourselves a chance.”