Oller: Ohio State's Steele Chambers not sweating Silver Bullets over NFL draft prospects
This is the first in a series of stories on Steele Chambers’ quest to continue his football career in the NFL. The former Ohio State linebacker, who recently played in the East-West Shrine Bowl, is preparing for the NFL combine in Indianapolis, which runs through March 4, then will participate in OSU’s pro day on March 20 and continue to train in Florida in hopes of hearing his name called during the April 25-27 draft.
A shirtless and sun-soaked Steele Chambers is living his best life by chasing after today. What happens tomorrow can wait, because the moment is all that matters to the former Ohio State linebacker as he prepares for the next step on his football journey.
“It’s like 65 or 70 and pretty beautiful right now,” Chambers said between workouts at the Exos Pro Sports Training Center in Gulf Breeze, Florida. “I’m getting ready to cook this steak in two or three hours and that’s about it.”
Some guys sweat the details. Chambers sweats, just not the details. If he is anxious about his draft prospects, it does not show. If he is nervous about his future, you wouldn't know it.
“I live in the moment,” he said, casually, which also describes his personality – a mix of chill confidence and relaxed cool.
There is a simple beauty in “being where your feet are,” as Nick Saban likes to say. No looking ahead. No looking back. Be present in the present. It allows a person to focus on the here and now. For Chambers, that means concentrating on his daily routine.
I asked if he has found it challenging to find a daily rhythm after leaving the OSU cocoon following the Dec. 29 Cotton Bowl. I might as well have asked if he cheers for Michigan.
“Not hard at all,” he said. “At Ohio State you kind of found your routine and stuck with it. I’m bringing that out into the real world now. I’ve got a routine. I just substitute swimming and physical therapy for school. I go in the sauna. Run on the beach.”
And take in the scenery.
“After workouts I take off my shirt and run on the beach at sunset,” he said.
Where do I sign up?
It all sounds so … easy. But just because Chambers makes it sound that way does not make it so. The 23-year-old with the charismatic vibe is laid back but not lazy. Huge difference. You don’t switch positions at Ohio State, from tailback to linebacker and three seasons later lead the 2023 Buckeyes with 83 tackles. Chambers is a worker. He just happens to prefer working – you guessed it – in the moment.
“You have to live life with no regrets,” he said,” choosing to backhand my question of whether it was providence led to his position change.
He ended up starting 29 games at linebacker, including all of 2022 and 2023. If he had remained at tailback entering the 2021 season, it is doubtful he would be rated even as highly as he is, which according to draftniks is going anywhere from rounds five to seven.
“You can play the 'what-if' all day in a whole bunch of different scenarios,” he continued. “At the end of the day you are where you are at this point in life. Just roll with the card you’re played.”
Just a hunch, but Chambers probably falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. Tough day? No worries. Each sunrise brings another chance to shine.
And shine he does, like few others who have passed through the Woody Hayes Athletic Facility, at least when tape recorders come out. Not many Buckeyes enjoy media interviews as much as Chambers, who is so comfortable speaking publicly he saw little need to prepare for his interviews with NFL coaches and scouts during the week of the Feb. 1 East-West Shrine Bowl.
“Interviews are not hard. Just have a conversation with them,” he said, adding he never stumbled over what to say. “Hell no. I like talking to people.”
He’s comfortable listening, too. Chambers famously turned the tables on the OSU media horde last spring by asking reporters what four animals they would bring into battle. Chambers decided he would ride an elephant while also relying on a hippopotamus, polar bear and tiger. (Smart man, although I would replace the hippo with an eagle. Need some aerial assault protection).
A winsome personality is all well and good, but what about football? Chambers, at 6 feet 1, 232 pounds, is slightly undersized for an NFL linebacker, but his speed (4.58 in the 40) likely will turn heads at the combine, where linebackers typically average 4.7.
NFL coaches will be interested in knowing what prompted Chambers’ position change. His answer? His parents, Stacy and Eric, and OSU coaches thought it would be in his best interest to switch. So he did. Simple as that.
He is taking a similar attitude into the draft process, open to making a living as a linebacker, safety or on special teams.
“In the NFL it’s just hard to get a chance,” he said. “I’m going to try to go into the process trusting teams, that the one that drafts me is doing what’s best for me and for them. I just want to prove myself, however they put me on the field.”
Chambers' first taste of the NFL “business” came before the Shrine game, when coaches offered tips on how to make a good impression upon entering the league. Rule 1: Be on time for meetings. Rule 2: See rule 1.
NFL coaches favor disciplined players. Nothing to worry about there, Chambers assured. He lives in the moment but attacks each moment under strict control. Field workouts and speed training run from 9:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. each morning, followed by yoga and stretching. After about two hours of rest, it’s off to physical therapy, then the hot tub and lifting weights from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Then a small meal followed by sauna, more cardio and an hour swim followed by a “cold tub” jump in the gulf.
Chambers, who declared for the draft Jan. 2 despite having one year of eligibility remaining, has holed up since Jan. 4 at the Portofino Island Resort in Pensacola, Florida, paid for by his agent, Michael Perrett of PrioritySports.
“It’s an investment in you.” Chambers said. “We talk about once a week.”
“That’s it?” I ask.
“I don’t need to be babysat,” Chambers said, matter of factly.
Will the investment pay off?
“No idea, man,” he said of his chances. “Just put your head down and work. I don’t like playing with odds.”
Of course not. Odds are statistics based on future results, and we know how Chambers feels about the future.
“Absolutely the only thing you can control is how you react to things,” he said. “The NFL definitely is a business, but the way I look at it, at the end of the day we’re all playing a frickin’ kids' game, running around tackling each other.”
While never looking past the sunset.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football linebacker Steele Chambers takes one day at a time
