A two-way threat in high school, Steele Chambers had visions of being the next great running back to come through the Ohio State program after committing there in 2019 after a dominant run at the high school level in Georgia, leading his team to three straight Class 4A championships.
Early on at Ohio State, Chambers — who has an all-time name — found himself stuck behind a number of talented running backs, leading to very limited work offensively. Then, as fate would have it, he was needed elsewhere.
A change from running back to linebacker occurred, a position he played in high school. That change of positions at the collegiate level “sucked” for Chambers, who spoke with Steelers Depot at the 2024 East-West Shrine Bowl in Dallas.
“Truthfully, totally kind of sucked. I mean just like, yeah, starting off you’re kind of just going into no man’s land [at linebacker],” Chambers said. “I played defense in high school, but linebacker at like the collegiate level, it’s a lot different. But I mean, I had great teammates around me. …So, I just stuck to the plan and then it all worked out again.”
In the end it was the for the best, and now has him aiming quite high in the NFL, modeling his game after the NFL’s best linebacker in San Francisco’s Fred Warner. Chambers measured in at 6004, 223 pounds in Dallas at the Shrine Bowl, similar to Warner’s 6033, 229 pounds.
“I started watching a lot of Fred Warner. …I sort of developed someone with a man crush on him as I watched him play,” Chambers said of Warner, the NFL’s best linebacker. “Just watching him, the way he attacks the ball, the way he works in coverage, too, I think that’s a huge guy to watch.”
Not only does Chambers like to watch Warner’s tape and try to take things from his game, he sort of looks like him, too, with the long, flowing hair and the outstanding athleticism and range he plays with on the field.
After making the switch to linebacker from running back at Ohio State in 2021, it took Chambers — who played linebacker in high school — a bit to make the change mentally. Things started to click though, especially late that season in a matchup against the Maryland Terrapins. In that matchup in 2021, on Oct. 9, Chambers had seven tackles, one tackle for loss, and one sack.
Things slowed down for him in that matchup, which caused his confidence to grow, leading to a long, impressive run at linebacker for the Buckeyes, putting his name up there in the same prestigious group in program history with the likes of A.J. Hawk, Ryan Shazier, Pete Werner, James Laurinaitis, and even fellow teammate Tommy Eichenberg.
Having a resource like Laurinaitis, who was a Butkus Award winner, a three-time All-American, Bronco Nagurski Award winner and an eight-year NFL veteran in the room as his coach was quite instrumental for Chambers. Being able to lean on a guy with that experience unlocked some of Chambers’ best football in 2023, a season in which he recorded 85 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one interception and two passes defensed.
“It meant everything. Just the dude with the background, the resume he had coming in and then just like sharing his wisdom, sharing everything that he has learned over his years,” Chambers said of Laurinaitis. “The NFL college level, it just really lets you trust him because he’s been through it all. He knows how hard the game football is.
“So just knowing that a guy that stature has so many stories he had going throughout college, it just really helped me.”
Having that resource to utilize within not only his own program, but in his own position room was huge for Chambers, leading to a strong 2023 season. His production included a career-high 13 tackles against Michigan in “The Game” this season, and then saw him close out his Ohio State career on a strong note in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl against Missouri with eight tackles.
Even with that change in positions in 2021 that “sucked” things worked out in the end for Chambers, who is now on the cusp of achieving his dream of making it to the NFL.
