BOURNE, Mass. — If Camden Kozeal isn’t holding a bat or glove, he has a fishing rod.

It’s been that way since he could walk. Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Kozeal found a calling to fishing early in his childhood, spending time at nearby ponds catching bass.

“I started about as young as I can remember, four or five-years-old,” Kozeal said. “My dad Matt and then grandpa Mick — those are probably my two biggest teachers for fishing. It’s something that I picked up and do a lot of.”

Growing up on a farm, Kozeal has always been an outdoorsman, spending hours fishing. As of this offseason he decided it was time to showcase his passion to the world.

In comes “Camden Kozeal Outdoors.”

“Someone said, ‘maybe you should video it once and see what people think.’ I was like, ‘sure, I'll try to make a YouTube video like that — sounds fun.’ I watch YouTube fishing videos every day,” Kozeal said. “I thought it'd be unique to get student-athletes, and then the outdoor version of them. You get to see them with a little less competitive edge, and you get to see their other side of life. That was the idea and I started filming.”

After a 20-second trailer on June 11, the first episode dropped a day later. It was slightly under 15 minutes of Kozeal and Arkansas teammate Gage Wood going topwater bass fishing — the video has over 1,000 likes. He currently has a subscriber count of over 4,300.

A lot of athletes have expanded their brand into content creation. Having a large following comes with the territory of being a high-profile baseball player for the Razorbacks, one of the biggest brands in collegiate baseball — that’s not what it’s about for Kozeal.

“In the offseason when I'm relaxing it’s a lot of fun to do,” Kozeal said. “50 years from now it'd be fun to watch those videos. You have those memories saved forever now, so we can watch our friends and see where they went in the passage of life and be like, ‘we were friends at that time, and we enjoyed doing something.’”

Before the stardom of being a player with elements of social media fame, Kozeal worked hard so he could play college baseball.

Like any other high school athlete with a dream, he busted his tail, making his name known quickly at Millard South High School in Omaha.

“He was a sophomore in 2021, the year we won the state championship, and he was the only sophomore on that team — right from the start of the year he instantly became the leader,” Kozeal’s high school coach Gregory Geary said. “You don't see that very often, the youngest kid on the team is instantly your vocal leader. When the team would huddle up, he would be the guy doing the talking and those older kids respected him. They knew what kind of a player he was, and they understood what kind of competitor he was right from the get-go.”

Kozeal won Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year in both 2022 and 2023, becoming a highly sought after player for top programs.

After generating substantial buzz throughout high school, he was tasked with an important decision.

Should he play professionally or go to college?

“At least twice a week we would have to go out early and throw batting practice to him on the field, because there would be 10 to 15 scouts that would come watch him at 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon to watch him hit,” Geary said. “That went on for the entire spring. There were scouts at every game. I know that was a tough decision for him, because at the end of the day, Cam from Day 1 has had a mission and a goal to become a professional baseball player.”

Kozeal weighed his options. Evaluated the pros and cons.

He pursued the collegiate route, holding his commitment to Vanderbilt and forgoing professional opportunities despite teams drawing interest in Kozeal come the 2023 MLB draft.

“I think he values college baseball so much, and that development is part of it,” Geary said. “That experience of playing college baseball and having the opportunity to go play in a College World Series, I know, was something that he's always dreamed of, having been going to it since he was born.”

Kozeal being around the College World Series since he was born is an understatement. It’s held in his hometown of Omaha, where his dad, Matt, works as a groundskeeper at Charles Schwab Field.

Dressed in his suit after prom his senior year, Kozeal did a lap around the warning track at the empty field after a Creighton baseball game — before that, he was a little kid wandering around Rosenblatt Stadium, the home of the College World Series until 2010 before it was demolished in 2012.

“That’s where we really grew up in our younger years. I would go to Omaha Royals games,” Kozeal said. “Jesse Cuevas was the head grounds crew guy. I remember talking to him a lot as a kid. Me and my dad would go out there and hit balls when no one else was in the stadium. From the outfield, we still have rows of the west seats in our basement. The ball used to fly way better there on a hill, and it was facing the right direction for the wind. It was a hitter's ballpark. It was right next to the zoo. We still love going to the zoo.”

Matt built a replica of Rosenblatt on their farm, naming the field designed for wiffle ball “Kozeal Park.”

So with the mission of playing on college baseball’s biggest stage in a stadium that has ties to his upbringing, Kozeal set out to Vanderbilt with a goal of returning to Omaha.

During his freshman year with the Commodores, Kozeal dealt with injuries. He appeared in 43 of the 61 contests, hitting .284 with 42 hits, 28 RBIs and five home runs.

The season wrapped up with Vanderbilt going 0-2 in the Clemson Regional, having its year come to an end with a loss to High Point — that would be the last time Kozeal suited up as a Commodore.

With an hour left before the window closed, Kozeal entered the transfer portal last July.

“Cam is about as loyal of a kid as you're ever going to find and I know that was a difficult decision,” Geary said. “I think we talked the day of or the day before the portal closed, and we had a great conversation. Probably talked for an hour or so on the phone about it, because he's a guy that doesn't want to let people down, and when he commits to something, he wants to hold that commitment.”

Following his debut season of college ball, Kozeal found himself playing in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Bourne Braves while searching for a new team.

A familiar face made the trip with him in Braden Holcomb, his freshman roommate at Vanderbilt — the pair resumed living together on the Cape.

“We were together a lot and he was a really positive, fun kid to be around,” Holcomb said. “He was always keeping the vibes up and the energy high. He’s a really hard kid not to like, because of how positive he is and how fun he is to be around.”

While Holcomb would return to Vanderbilt for 2025, Kozeal needed a new home, but his production with the Braves helped his cause as Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn and assistant Nate Thompson made the trip to Massachusetts to check out Kozeal — the Razorbacks is where Kozeal would suit up next.

“They have great coaches — coach Van Horn, coach Thompson,” Kozeal said. “I took a visit there out of high school. I loved that it was closer to home. Having my family be able to watch me play — had an opportunity to play there. They wanted hitters and it worked out great.”

In his sophomore season, Kozeal was second-team All-SEC, hitting .333 with 77 hits, 62 RBIs and 15 home runs.

Despite the success in the spring, it was an adjustment for Kozeal to get acclimated with a new team, starting with a fall ball he wasn’t happy with. Before second baseman Nolan Souza suffered a season-ending injury on April 11 against Georgia, Kozeal was playing first base, a spot he hadn’t played during the competitive stages of his baseball career.

In typical Kozeal fashion, he didn’t bat an eye.

“One day I called him and asked, ‘what do you think about playing first base?’ He said, “I’ll do whatever I’ve got to do.’ I had a first baseman’s glove sitting on my desk,” Van Horn said before the start of the College World Series. “I told him he could come grab it. I stepped out of my office for an hour. When I came back, the glove was gone. He was already out there taking ground balls.”

It’s that dedication that made Kozeal a key contributor on an Arkansas team that reached the College World Series semifinal, helping him achieve his dream of suiting up in his hometown at a stadium that shaped a large portion of his life.

As Kozeal suited up for practice on Father’s Day, he was able to give his dad the gift of a hug on the field during a break in the action.

“It was a great experience for both of us. He’s an Omaha kid and we’re an Omaha family,” Matt said. “We were all really, really, really excited as a family. He grew up at Rosenblatt Stadium simply running around. It was such a full-circle moment.”

Kozeal had all six of his siblings in attendance. Prior to the start of the series he returned to Millard South where Geary said “he stayed and signed every single autograph until the last kid was done.”

The semifinal didn’t go the Razorbacks way, as Arkansas lost both games to LSU. While Kozeal didn’t walk away with a win, he walked away with a memory.

Some habits never die for Kozeal, as following the first loss in the series he stayed afterward in uniform to watch his dad and coworkers clean up the field.

“He’s just a ballpark rat,” Matt said. “The Triple-A field where I work also — he would be there for an hour, hour and a half, two hours after every game hanging out on the field or in the clubhouse. It’s a cycle of what we do.”

Following the end of his sophomore season, Kozeal suited up for Team USA before returning to Bourne for another summer. He arrived late evening on the Fourth of July after wearing the red, white and blue for his country, getting two hours of sleep that night, but the next day he was at Doran Park with a bright smile on his face and a Monster Energy drink in his hand.

Kozeal parked himself right next to Holcomb, talking ball like the pair did at Vanderbilt and the prior summer with the Braves.

“I'm glad that he got to come back and play a little bit this summer — got to play with him a little bit more again,” Holcomb said. “Getting to know him over the past two years, it's been a lot of fun. I get to know him better and better every day. We stay in touch.”

Kozeal wrapped up his second summer with the Braves doing what he does best on the diamond, hitting the ball hard and making the tough plays in the infield, but that’s not the lone impact he made.

His personality brightened the mood of those around him, having tons of support from his teammates, coaches and fans. Through two years with Kozeal, Bourne field manager Scott Landers saw how special he was — Kozeal even went fishing with his son, Cal.

"First and foremost, he's a great human being," Landers said. "He comes from a really good family, large family. In terms of the little kids around here in the community, he would do anything for them. Very respectful kid and a pleasure to coach. It's been a pleasure watching him grow as a player."

Playing on the Cape was something Kozeal didn’t have to do this summer, but he loved his two seasons with Bourne. Following his final game against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, he stayed following its conclusion and took endless pictures with his siblings that made the trip to watch him suit up for the final time as a Brave. The night before against the Orleans Firebirds, he held the hand of his nine-year-old sister Elizabeth, bringing her next to the dugout from the crowd in the middle of the game.

It’s the support of his family, friends and people he doesn’t know that makes Kozeal who he is.

“I want people to remember how I made them feel, not necessarily how good I was as a baseball player. I think we can get lost in that we're trying to perform, we're trying to win and we're competing,” Kozeal said. “When you look back on your career, you're going to think about the people and what made them special and their personalities. I want to be a reflection of that and be a good person.”

Kozeal journals every single day. If his journey goes according to plan, he wants to write a book about his experiences.

Next up for Kozeal is the hope of returning to Omaha with Arkansas walking away as champions. After that, he will likely hear his name called early in the 2026 MLB Draft.

Kozeal’s story is far from over, but he’s going to work hard to get to the point where he laces up the cleats at baseball’s highest stage. There’s more ground balls to field and swings to be swung.

There’s also more fish to be caught, and it’s the lessons he’s learned from fishing that keep him grounded.

“I try to do little hints in my videos, but baseball and fishing are so similar — there's infinite parallels,” Kozeal said. “You're going to take a million casts, you're going to take a million swings. You’re not going to be successful every cast or successful every swing. You learn to deal with failure and be at peace and be calm with it.”