Kampman joins Aplington-Parkersburg teammate Meester with Jaguars

Former Iowa Hawkeye Aaron Kampman, who has carved out an awfully nice NFL career for himself as a defensive end, has taken his talent to Jacksonville to be a Jaguar.

Kampman is coming off a torn left ACL suffered during the 2009 season with the Green Bay Packers, but said he's "ahead of schedule" in recovery.

One of the things that lured Kampman to Jacksonville is his former Aplington-Parkersburg teammate, Jaguars center Brad Meester.

From this Florida Times-Union story about the Jags' signing of the 8-year vet:

Kampman flew into Jacksonville on Friday night and joined Jaguars center Brad Meester - a high school teammate at Aplington-Parkersburg High in Iowa - and his wife, Jamie, for dinner. Meester's wife is Kampman's second cousin. Jamie Meester and Kampman's wife, Linde, were members of the same graduating class at Aplington-Parkersburg.

Familiarity between the families led to a candid discussion about the pluses and minuses of Jacksonville, Kampman said. After meeting with the Jaguars at the club's facilities all day on Saturday, Kampman agreed to the deal at approximately 12:30 a.m.

“It was huge,” Kampman said of his familiarity with the Meesters. “Those things kind of combined to help us have a comfort level about asking honest questions to Brad and Jamie where we could get honest answers. Everything they said was great. Everything we saw on this visit - the process we went through - it just continued to echo everything they said. I just felt great about it to the point that we told my agent [Neil Cornrich] this was something definitely that we think fits.”

Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette wrote this piece summarizing Kampman's contributions to the Packers. A passage:

Kampman's steady and constant improvement in his eight years with the Packers showed he was more than just a high-character, hard-working player.

By his third season, in 2004, he was the full-time starter at left defensive end. His 15½ sacks in 2006 rank as the third-most in a single season in team history since the NFL began tracking sacks in 1982.

Here are a couple of comments from Packers fans to Dougherty's story:

Hopefully he heals up well and can continue a great career. Funny how his leaving brings out the nicest comments from the fans, not like how someone else left us a couple of years ago. Nope, not the same feelings at all.

Thanks for 8 great years here, Aaron, good luck in Jacksonville, and we'll see you back here in the Packer Hall of Fame Class of '20.