Campbell football coach T.K. Dodd found out last week that the school's new artificial turf field would be installed and ready for use on Tuesday.

When Dodd told his players that practice was going to be held at Richard McDaniel Stadium, the team jubilantly erupted in anticipation of practicing on the new surface for the first time.

But under the guise of a simple joke, an idea from junior defensive end George Wright turned into an experience Dodd will never forget.

"He was basically joking about it, but I thought it was a great idea," Dodd said. "George said, 'We need to have a night out as a team to bond and become one with the turf.' It was like a light bulb went off in my head, so I said let's do it.

"George was like, 'Naw, seriously?' and I said, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"

So began the Campbell camp-out, which took place Wednesday night on the stadium's turf. Roughly 50 players showed up for the initial festivities, which included a touch football game and later turned into a night of movie-watching and pizza.

"We saw 'Facing the Giants' on a projector screen and had some pizza," Dodd said. "It's an inspiring movie about football with a spiritual background. The kids had a blast."

With its royal blue end zones and the Spartans logo at center field, 25 players, ranging from freshmen to seniors, chose to camp out on the turf and under the stars Wednesday evening. Packed up in sleeping bags, some chose to sleep on the logo, while others slept in the end zone.

With Dodd watching over them the entire night, the expectation was for the players to wake up Thursday morning, shower and dress in the locker room and head to class.

"We wear shirts and ties as a team on Thursdays, so that's what everybody had ready to go in their lockers (Thursday) morning," Dodd said. "I thought it was a fantastic night."

Two of Dodd's sons, 13-year-old Deon and 7-year-old Andrew also participated in the camp-out.

"My wife, Joanne, picked them up (early Thursday) morning to get them off to school. They love Campbell football, and the guys love having them around."

Dodd, a 1989 graduate of Wills High School, the predecessor to present-day Campbell, is passionate about his football team and wants to get the Spartans back on the winning track after two straight losing seasons. Heading into tonight's home game against Langston Hughes, he hopes that Wednesday's camp-out will bring the team together in ways he can only imagine.

"Just that feeling of togetherness and keeping each other company is what I hope these kids got out of it," he said. "Everybody didn't camp out, but we had a lot of them here having a good time before that. It was a fun night with just us. There was a lot of laughter and they were teasing one another. It was nice to have them together."

While Dodd disagreed with the suggestion that the team should sleep out on the turf before every home game, expressing the fact that he "likes his own bed," he did feel like the camp-out could become an annual event.

"It might be something we'll do again in the future," Dodd said. "We could get the school involved and do it as a fundraiser or something - who knows. It was cool, and we could do this again."