Now familiar with Buckeyes defense, free-spirited Steele Chambers in pursuit of free-flowing 2023

The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re continuing with our seventh positional week with a unit that returns its biggest stars: the Buckeyes linebackers.

COLUMBUS — Steele Chambers flipped the script.

“Can I ask a question?” he asked the Ohio State media at Woody Hayes Athletic Center this spring.

No one objected — after all, that kind of request from a player is unique.

But that’s who Chambers is: unique.

The running back-turned-linebacker has long, voluminous black hair that he often wears up, with the curls canopying over his mustache and wide smile. The 6-foot-1, 232-pound fifth year is hard hitting on the gridiron yet affectionally compares himself to an otter off the field.

The ever-expressive Chambers continued: “Alright, stay with me on this. So you’re going into a battle with someone. And you’ve gotta pick four animals. These four animals and you are going into battle with another guy and four animals. What four animals do you pick?”

Chambers then pointed to specific reporters and put them on the spot before sharing what he called his “strength package”: an elephant — which he said he’d ride with a sword — a hippo, a polar bear and a tiger. As for his “steal package,” he said he’d sub in a peregrine falcon, the fastest member of the animal kingdom.

Chambers loves animals. He has a husky named Maverick after the original “Top Gun.” He marveled at the sea turtles he saw while snorkeling during this year’s Buckeye Cruise for Cancer.

Chambers is a free spirit. Thoughts fly around his head like he flies around the field.

But he’s “very coachable,” too, according to second-year defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jim Knowles.

Ohio State linebacker Steele Chambers is back for the 2023 season. (Matt Parker/Lettermen Row)

Like second-team All-American Tommy Eichenberg, Chambers — Ohio State’s other starting linebacker in Knowles’ 4-2-5 system — decided to put the NFL Draft on pause this offseason.

After Chambers piled up 221 rushing yards across two years in the Buckeyes’ backfield, he pivoted away from running back ahead of the 2021 season and now enters 2023 having started 17 consecutive games at linebacker. In his eyes, however, that wasn’t enough experience at the position for him to make the jump to the next level.

“I just wanted three years under my belt at linebacker,” Chambers said back in December. “I feel like I’ve progressed in my knowledge of the game. But I think there’s a lot more that I need to learn.

“I feel like I’m pretty premature as far as like linebacker savviness.”

That, of course, was before one of his most impactful games of his career: an eight-tackle performance against his home state powerhouse, Georgia, in the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal. He also got home for half a sack and picked off a pass in the second quarter that helped the Buckeyes stake themselves to a 21-7 lead, a few hours prior to their gut-wrenching collapse.

Chambers recorded another interception during Ohio State’s rout of Rutgers last season. And he recovered a Zach Harrison strip sack at Maryland for a game-sealing touchdown. Plus, he bumped his tackle total from 47 in 2021 to 77 — the second most on the team — in 2022.

Still, as Chambers alluded to in the winter, he has room for improvement.

“We want to really work with Steele on his hands and the inside fight,” Knowles explained. “He operates well on the perimeter, and he did fine inside. But I think as he grows in his career and next level stuff, he’s going to have to face those physical challenges inside by really using his hands more.”

Chambers said he spent time with former Ohio State linebacker Anthony Schlegel this offseason. Schlegel served as the Buckeyes’ assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2011-15. His motto?

“‘Get bumpy,’” Chambers said. “That’s just basically go hard, balls to the wall. And that’s kind of what I’m trying to buy into, just going hard 24/7, bettering my practice habits and stuff like that.

“See how that improves my game overall.”

Chambers plays fast. But he wants to play even faster. Being in Knowles’ defense for a second year will help him up the ante. With more familiarity in the system, there’s less of a focus on doing your job and more of an emphasis on swarming the ball, Chambers said.

Everything Chambers did in the spring came with a sense of urgency. Even when was on crutches because of turf toe, he was jetting from one drill to the next while watching his teammates.

Ohio State linebacker Steele Chambers tackles Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen during the 2022 season. (Gaelen Morse/Getty Images)

He noted that he watches a lot of Fred Warner tape. The San Francisco 49ers middle linebacker is a two-time first-team All-Pro. He’s one of the best tacklers in the NFL, but he also covers like a safety and keeps pace with some of the speediest wideouts in the league.

Chambers said, to a certain degree, he’s been trying to mold his game around Warner’s play style. Additionally, he mentioned that he’s been incorporating “little tricks and trades” he’s picked up from first-year assistant linebackers coach and Buckeyes legend James Laurinaitis this offseason.

“Whenever you got a guy like Laurinaitis coaching you, you try to think the way he thinks,” Chambers said. “He’s been there, he’s done it. He’s done it at a very high level. So I mean, if you could put yourself in that same mindset, then I I feel like you could at least try your best to match those results.”

But Chambers isn’t Laurinaitis or Warner.

He’s one of a kind. Unique.

And his free-spirited demeanor, mixed with his athleticism, could manifest itself in a breakout season.

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