Ohio State Football: Steele Chambers’ remarkable transition

The Ohio State football team landed the four-star athlete Steele Chambers in the 2019 recruiting class. At first, the rumor was Ohio State saw Chambers as a linebacker in the recruiting process. Instead of playing on the defensive side, Chambers played running back for the Buckeyes through his first two seasons.

During the Spring, talk around Chambers moving to linebacker emerged. Whether he was going to stick to running back or switch positions was uncertain until he made the full switch to linebacker during Fall Camp. About two months later, Chambers is making the case to be in the linebacker rotation.

Chambers is already beginning to flash his potential at linebacker in the last couple of weeks. We are starting to see why Ryan Day initially wanted Chambers to play linebacker. While he did have some experience playing linebacker in high school, the transition was still difficult, which Chambers noted back in August,

"“It’s hard, yeah it’s hard. I mean I have a little experience from high school, but I mean college defense it’s just a whole new ball game. But I’m getting it.”"

So far, Chambers has quickly conquered his challenge switching from running back to linebacker.

Steele Chambers could end up being a big contributor for Ohio State football’s defense

The Georgia native is starting to make some real noise at linebacker, pushing for more playing time. Against Tulsa, Chambers had a decent game with three tackles. Chambers is coming off his great performance versus Akron with five tackles, one tackle for loss, and one pass deflection. Take a look at this outstanding play in coverage by the newly-transitioned linebacker.

His athleticism at linebacker is starting to really show as he continues to make some eye-popping plays versus the run. In the season-opener, Chambers immediately showed why OSU has a vision for him playing linebacker.

https://twitter.com/CDeckScrubs/status/1433867188742414341

With Matt Barnes calling frequent blitzes against the run, it is giving Chambers a lot of opportunities to stuff the run. It has been extremely impressive at times when Chambers is making some quick, decisive decisions against the run since he’s so new at the position. Day recently raved about Chambers’ move to linebacker,

"“What a great decision by him. We’re very fortunate that this has worked out, because in a short period of time he’s grown. Certainly not a finished product, but I think he’s got a very bright future ahead of him if he continues to work on the path that he’s on and continues to build. Because there’s been some things that I’ve seen out him that I think are special.”"

Day then finished his praise for Chambers by saying,

"“The more reps he gets, the better he’s gonna be.”"

This last comment by Day is a precursor for what we are about to see. With linebackers Dallas Gant and K’Vaughan Pope both leaving the program, even more reps have been opened up for Chambers. Chambers has to play more as well with fewer players being available at linebacker.

Honestly, Chambers deserves more playing time due to his recent play. He was one of only five defensive players graded as champions by Ohio State for the Akron game. In addition, OSU clearly plans on more snaps for Chambers when Day acknowledged he will get better with more reps.

Chambers’ good play at linebacker after only fully transitioning to the position about two months ago is remarkable. Going forward, he could be another unexpected contributor that helps turn the Ohio State football team’s defense around.