Jack Chambers finds new home with NC State football
Quarterback Jack Chambers has no ill-will towards his old school Charleston Southern. Chambers still cherishes the friendships he made among teammates there.
But after last season, when Chambers was a prolific all-conference performer, by his own admission Chambers was “dead set” in on pursuing new opportunities.
That turned out to be NC State, where Chambers technically walked on but has already made an immediate impression and could be in line to emerge as the backup to fifth-year redshirt junior and preseason ACC Player of the Year Devin Leary.
So how did NC State end up on Chambers’ radar?
Turned out, the school was on Chambers’ list of schools “that I really wanted to go to” that he compiled after entering the transfer portal.
“It’s a tough process going through recruiting and everything, trying to find out the perfect school for me,” Chambers noted. “I saw NC State, saw their roster. It was a great program, great facilities, great coaching here, and it was just the place I wanted to be.”
Chambers was the one who originally reached out to NC State. Now that he is in Raleigh, he is soaking in as much as he can, especially since the concepts on offense has dramatically changed.
“I come from the air raid, which is very simple plays,” Chambers explained. “Just get it out, let’s get back on the ball.
“Here we have designed runs, read progressions … read coverages. I think Coach [Tim] Beck has done a great job mentoring me and [freshman] MJ [Morris], just helping us and leading us and making sure we’re ready to go.”
Two things that have helped Chambers: his quarterback room and the NC State defense.
With the latter, Chambers noted, “You’re not going to see many defenses like us.”
As for his fellow quarterbacks, Chambers can see why Leary has been receiving the preseason buzz following his 2021 campaign.
“He’s a professional,” Chambers noted. “He comes in here and works every day. Just to see him spin it out there, it’s incredible. Like, I think I can throw the football, but he can really spin it.”
Jack Chambers Hopes To Build On Past Accomplishments
Perhaps one of Chambers’ more noteworthy performances last season came in a close loss at East Carolina.
“I remember just going in there and the atmosphere was crazy,” Chambers recalled. “It was extremely loud. It was exciting to be there. As soon as we came out there people were booing us.
“As an away team, I thought that was amazing. … You don’t really get that at the FCS level.”
Chambers (5-foot-10, 180 pounds) completed 38 of 61 passes that day for 405 yards and a pair of touchdowns with one interception and also rushed for 67 yards and a score in the 31-28 setback.
Overall, for the season Chambers was 230-of-417 passing for 2,490 yards and 17 TDs with 10 picks and added 477 yards rushing and an additional seven scores. He was named second-team All-Big South after finishing 13th in the FCS in passing yards per game (249.5) and 18th in completion percentage (63.3 percent).
Chambers believes his biggest asset is “being able to make plays when plays aren’t available.” He has also seen growth in understanding to take what a defense is giving him since being at NC State.
“That’s something I have had to learn, but I am doing a lot better with that, now,” he confirmed.
