When Nolan Smith was in town for Georgia’s Pro Day, he pulled former teammate Chaz Chambliss aside.
There were some words of encouragement he needed to pass along. With Smith and Robert Beal gone, the outside linebacker room was going to be Chambliss' to lead.
Smith has no doubt Chambliss will do just fine.
“The outside linebacker room is going to be amazing under Chaz,” Chambliss said. “I told Chaz he’s the old man in the room now, you’ve got to get the boys fishing, get them doing the right thing on the weekends, being the old men that we are, and make sure we’re good as a team.”
Chambliss said he’ll do his best.
"I mean it's kind of weird, because I had Robert Beal Jr. and Nolan Smith,” Chambliss said after practice on Thursday. “All those guys were older than me or at the age, I am right now when I came in. Right now, it's just embracing that role and trying to help the young guys."
Granted, the Carrollton native will go about it a different way than has Smith, whose ability to express himself verbally could possibly assure him a TV analyst gig once his NFL days are through.
Chambliss isn’t quite cut from the same loquacious cloth.
The junior is football tough and tough-minded to boot. Chambliss doesn’t believe in a lot of flowery words. Straight to the point is more his style.
“For me, it’s just being there for the young guys like they were for me,” Chambliss said. “They were there for me and helped me get through all the times as a freshman, because that's a long journey to where you get to playing shape."
His hard-scrabble approach only aims for doing things 100 percent.
“You just try to sharpen iron, you know?” Chambliss said. “You’re not a freshman anymore. That’s not an excuse.”
With talented youngsters like Gabe Harris, Samuel M’Pemba, Damon Wilson, and CJ Madden among the youngsters under his watch, Chambliss said he’s been more than willing to be a sounding board whenever questions arise.
“It’s just how we run the defense, mainly,” Chambliss said. “We’ve got an extensive playbook. It’s not easy to learn the playbook here. It’s a hard playbook. You have to be mentally strong to play in this defense. All the off-field stuff, you’re not in high school now, so they’re having to get used to college life.”
Along with learning the playbook, learning how to be a complete outside linebacker is also part of the drill. That means actually learning how to play in coverage.
“We’re outside linebackers, we like to rush the passers,” Chambliss said. “But you also have to go into coverage in this defense.”
Chambliss said he’s done a lot of growing as well.
When Smith went out with a pec injury, Chambliss went from being a part-time player to taking over for one of the more dynamic athletes on the entire defensive side.
“I feel like a whole different player. From Oregon to Ohio State to TCU, I think I’ve grown a lot.”
Such as?
“Comfort,” Chambliss said. “Just being in the defense, and not really seeing the big picture, but looking more into the year and the job you’re trying to do.”
