Ohio State football: Steele Chambers has found his role

It’s not super often that a player changes positions midway through his college career and is actually better at that position. Zach Boren did that in 2012 when he moved from fullback to linebacker. That’s exactly what happened to Steele Chambers. He switched from running back to linebacker last year and really helped the Ohio State football team.

Chambers was brought in as a running back and did show some signs of being useful. In his true freshman season in 2019, which he was able to redshirt since he only played in three games, he had 19 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown in mop-up duty.

Chambers still showed some bursts on some plays. But heading into last year, Chambers decided to switch over to linebacker to help the Buckeyes there. The running back room was stacked and the linebacker room was thin. He quickly proved to be the best LB the Ohio State football team had.

Last year, he finished with 47 tackles, 1 sack, 1 interception, and 2 fumble recoveries. He was the only linebacker that played with any consistency throughout the year. In fact, he got better as he got more comfortable playing on the defensive side of the ball.

Chambers finally has his role. He’s going to start this year at one of the two linebacker spots and is still the best linebacker the Buckeyes have. Now that he has a season of experience under his belt, he should be even better than what he was a year ago.

Jim Knowles is hoping that he can lean on him this year. Chambers will be looked on as a leader on defense, along with Denzel Burke and Zach Harrison. Those guys need to set the tempo when it comes to the defense.

I expect good things from Chambers this year. Truth be told, he’s the only linebacker I have faith in right now. It’s crazy that he was a running back just two seasons ago.