If you ask former Temple Football center Adam Klein, kicker Camden Price was born with the natural ability to play football. Now, Price wants to use that innate ability to make a difference.
“He was blessed with the opportunity to kick a football and kick it really well,” Klein said. “He got the opportunity to use his platform and make a difference in other people’s lives.”
In April, Klein introduced Price to the ALS Hope Foundation in Philadelphia, which helps people affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurological disease that affects voluntary movement. This summer, Price started a fundraiser where people can pledge to donate toward the foundation’s patient care for every point he scores this season.
Price, a graduate transfer from Miami, came to Temple in December 2021 with what he saw as a second chance at the game he loved. After hitting 6-7 field goals in six games in 2019, he sat on the bench while Miami recruited other high-level kickers on scholarship. Price took a gamble by entering the transfer portal and found a new opportunity to kick at Temple.
“The fact that I got the second chance, that’s really what means a lot to me,” Price said. “I am one of the last [2018 recruiting class] in college football, so it means a lot when other people look up to me in the room and follow me around and do what I do.”
As the football season progresses, Price is kicking with more purpose than ever before, and he wants to use his second chance at football to improve someone else’s quality of life.
FINDING PASSION
Price grew up as the son of two military parents. He started playing soccer at 11 years old, but felt the sport wasn’t physical enough for his liking. The competition around the Washington D.C. area was one of the best in the country, which made his decision to focus on football easier.
Price needed a more physical outlet and joined the football team at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Maryland, playing receiver and cornerback. Kicking was just a side talent, especially because extra-point kicks were worth two points at the youth level.
With extra training, he then became accustomed to kicking footballs rather than soccer balls, and he started to develop his skill outside of practice.
“I wanted to be good at it if I was going to be kicking extra points and playing receiver,” Price said. “I’m going to take all my jobs seriously. Then, I went to high school and still played receiver and corner and all the way through my junior year, kept kicking on the side and started getting pretty darn good.”
Price earned invitations to prestigious kicking camps, including Kohl’s and Kornblue Kicking. He was competing against kickers, like current San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody, who was drafted out of Michigan last spring and has yet to miss a kick in the NFL.
When he realized he could use his leg to play Division I football, Price became a full-time kicker. He joined the Hurricanes on June 1, 2018 using the money from his parents’ G.I. Bill benefits.
A SECOND CHANCE
When Price first arrived in Miami, he was a member of the practice squad. The Hurricanes had five kickers on the roster, so he chose to redshirt, preserving a year of eligibility while remaining with the team.
In 2019, Price had his moment to shine after then-starter Bubba Baxa struggled to begin the season. Price stepped into the starting role and was nearly perfect on field goals and made all 18 extra point attempts, which earned him a full scholarship for the 2020 season.
In 2020, Price’s career took a turn after Miami brought in Florida International transfer Jose Borregales. Borregales went on to win the Lou Groza award, given to the best kicker in the country, and was named an All-American. With Borregales’ success, Price was left on the bench and struggled to adapt to the role after such a successful run.
“Going from backup to starter, it does take it out of you,” Price said. “You have to go in every day and do the workouts and stay motivated when you know that only one kicker plays. I don’t think anybody goes on a team to just wear a jersey. When you’re at a Division I program and you know the work that needs to be put in for it, you have to learn how to self motivate.”
When his undergraduate career was finished, Price had a choice to make: enter the business world or continue to pursue football. When he saw options existed in the transfer portal, Price said he decided to use his final two years of eligibility to take a leap.
“I really feel like I’ve had an amazing college career,” Price said. “Coming to Temple though, I feel like I had unfinished business.”
FINDING PURPOSE
Price joined Temple Football in the summer of 2022. Entering the program, he was backing up former Owls’ kicker Rory Bell, who struggled during the first four games of the season.
Price got an opportunity to kick a field goal for the first time in Cherry and White against Memphis on Oct. 1, nailing a 47-yarder, the longest of the season in the American Athletic Conference at the time.
From there, Price was off and running as the reliable leg from anywhere on the field. He finished the 2022 season ranked 10th in the FBS in field goal percentage, missing just one kick all season. Price got out of his own head and was grateful for the opportunity to play college football once again, he said.
Eventually, Price wanted more than just the starting kicker job or the opportunity to play for a winning team.
This past offseason, he started thinking about ways to give back to the community that has done so much for him. As a kid in a military family, Price was more than aware of the sacrifices his parents, and so many other people, made for him to be playing college football.
“I really like to think back to all the workouts I’ve done, all the camps I’ve been to, all the things my parents drove me to to support me like what is it all for?” Price said. “It’s for this, so like why not give it my all?”
While finding initiatives to support, Price went with Klein, his roommate at the time, to a gala hosted by the ALS Hope Foundation. There, Price met Jamey Piggott, the executive director, and struck up a conversation. After hearing Dr. Stacy Lewin-Farber speak about her experience with ALS, Price knew he wanted to help.
“That idea for every point he kicks to go to the ALS Foundation, it was all him,” Klein said. “He had the works of it that night. It kind of just popped into his head. And then, really happy for him that he made it happen.”
Price started a Kick for a Cause initiative, similar to one started by Moody during his time at Michigan. Where Moody supported cancer research, Price decided to fundraise for ALS Hope, with all donations helping patient care.
“I was blown away,” Piggott said. “I mean, here are these guys that didn’t even need to stay, and they stayed and were part of it. I was really proud of who they were and the questions that they asked, and they took it seriously.”
Price has raised $4,295 so far this season, and 31 donors have pledged to donate for every point he scores. Several one-time donations have been made through his website as well.
Price has grown since being the backup at Miami. Rather than riding out his days on the bench, Price wanted to make a difference. Now, he’s using his final days in college football doing what he can to give back.
“I didn’t want this to be like a cute little project that I’m working on,” Price said. “I was putting time, energy and effort into it. I was putting my all into it. So to see that other people were helping me out and actually taking it seriously as well reminded me that I really am reaching people.”
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