We’re used to seeing clips of Earl Campbell running like this, but he’s just happy to be moving like this.

“This is better than what it was,” Campbell says.

Earl Campbell had back surgery in Houston in July, taking screws out and making him feel better. 

“I used to couldn’t do this before, you know.  I was always like this (bent over). Because I had all the metal in my back and he took it out and now I can do this (stand up).  So after I get those 32-inch thighs built up I’ll be able to have my hands on my hip like you.  But until then, I gotta do this.”

Earl tries to walk a couple of laps on the UT campus every day as he continues his rehab and says this is a lot tougher than his old days in football.

“Dr Jones in Houston, he says ‘What’s wrong with your back?’  I said ‘Well this doctor in Austin says I was born with an incorrect spine,’” says Earl.  “So he got to working on me and everything and after the operation he says, ‘Let me tell you something.  You tell that doctor in Austin that there’s no incorrect spine.  There’s a Pittsburgh helmet on your back.”

Earl was very emotional at his statue dedication on the UT campus two years ago, like he was tired of being in pain, but says things have changed.

“I’m not like that now.  I say I went from that to about 95%. I have a little pain but nothing like the other pain,” he says.

But Earl’s still a little impatient and wants things better… now.

“I can’t see no future right now in this,” he says.  “I just walk.  I walk and I think about what I want to do but I ain’t guaranteed nothing.”