His current dream isn’t far-fetched. Chambers, who red-shirted his first year on campus, has started the past two seasons for the Catamounts. He’s a veteran junior now with 110 career tackles to his credit — 18 of them behind the line of scrimmage.

Chambers, the starting defensive tackle for the rejuvenated Catamounts again this fall, is physically imposing to say the least. In high school, he was good enough to make All-Rowan County four straight years, win county defensive player of the year honors and play in the Shrine Bowl, but still had a lot of teddy bear in him. Now, he’s certified grizzly, slimmer in the face and waist, even thicker in the chest and shoulders.

“I guess you could say I’m built more up and down these days,” chuckles Chambers, who tips the scales at a solid 295. “I bench press 455 pounds.”

Chambers needs that strength because he routinely combats Southern Conference offensive linemen, who are even larger.

“We play in a smashmouth, run-the-ball league and you’ve gotta be able to stand toe to toe,” says Chambers, who’s totalled as many as 14 tackles in a game. “My big advantage, though, is my quickness.”

That quickness comes from Chambers’ cross-training. While at North, he was good enough all-round to earn male athlete of the year honors in the county. Besides tackling people, he excelled in throwing the discus and the shot and was a fierce wrestler.

At Western, Chambers has already made an all-conference track team and helped the Catamounts win the league title with his proficiency in two events that weren’t part of the prep track curriculum — the hammer throw and the 35-pound weight.

“Those events require quick feet, finesse and power,” says Chambers.

Those are three things Chambers has in abundance. Chambers moves so well that he returned a VMI fumble 48 yards last year.

“Should have had a touchdown,” chuckles Chambers. “My blockers let me down and let some running back go all the way around them to tackle me on the 12. My coaches at North read about that play in the paper. They rag on me about being caught from behind.”

He may have been caught short of the goal line on that one, but in the classroom, Chambers is scoring repeated touchdowns. He made a big splash on the Dean’s List this spring and will own a degree in communications a full year before his football eligibility expires.

The next logical question is: “What’s a kid this strong, this quick and this smart doing playing 1-AA football?”

Mostly it’s because Chambers stands a hair under six feet tall. If Chambers were 6-4, he might be hanging out with Nick Maddox at Florida State. He’s that good.

It hurt Chambers for a long time that the ACC schools snubbed him because of a couple of inches. The words that the D-I coaches spoke to him before the 1996 Shrine Bowl still burn in his mind. “This is your chance, kid,” they said. “Show us something.”

Chambers’ Shrine head coach was former A.L.Brown coach Bruce Hardin, who told him he had to set the tone for the N.C. team if it was going to end its losing skid against the Sandlappers. Chambers responded. He was everywhere, outplaying a prep All-American who’s now the starting center at Clemson.

“I got in a good groove and everything flowed,” says Chambers, smiling with satisfaction at the memory.

But he didn’t get the results he wanted. Despite their pregame encouragement, the D-I guys pretended not to notice that Chambers was at the bottom of every pileup. Chambers’ best offer was still from Western. So he headed to Cullowhee with best pal Craig Powers, the North quarterback who was expected to become the Catamounts tight end.

“The ACC schools — they’re missing the boat,” said North coach Roger Secreast as Chambers headed for the 1-AA ranks.

But in Cullowhee, Chambers was greeted by another shock wave. They handed him a red-shirt for the ‘97 season.

“I was a hotshot freshmen, who was going to tear it up,” he remembers. “But I didn’t know near as much as I thought I did. Looking back now, I can appreciate that red-shirt year. But I sure didn’t appreciate it at the time.”

By the end of that difficult first year, Chambers wanted to transfer.

“It was such a bitter pill to swallow,” he says. “I was close to coming home to Catawba. It was Coach Secreast and Coach (Robert) Steele that gave me the support I needed to stick it out. They wouldn’t let me give up.”

Now, both Chambers and Western are glad he didn’t. In ‘98, as a redshirt freshman, he was a rock for a 6-5 team. The game he’ll treasure for a lifetime came that season against Western’s arch-rival — Appalachian. He made huge hits as the Apps fumbled nine times with a SportsSouth TV audience looking on. And after the game, well, that was even better.

“It was the first time we beat App in 13 years and everyone in Cullowhee was celebrating,” remembers Chambers. “And then I felt this hand on my shoulder. I turned around and it was Coach Secreast. He was so happy for me, so proud of me — and I was so glad to see him. Chills went up and down my spine.”

Chambers glows when he talks about Secreast. He says he’s oh, so jealous because North quarterback Mario Sturdivant got to play in the ‘99 Shrine game when Secreast was part of the N.C. coaching staff.

“I’m still real close to Roger,” says Chambers.

Chambers’ ties to Rowan remain strong, and not just to Secreast and Steele. He says former Rowan hoops stars Bobby Phillips (Salisbury) and Joel Fleming (West) showed him the ropes when he arrived in Cullowhee. And now Chambers has appointed himself the Catamounts’ unofficial Rowan recruiter.

“Showed Scooter Dalton (a Western signee from West Rowan) around campus,” says Chambers proudly. “Tried to get (East’s) Danny Misenheimer when I saw him at the Wofford game. Now, I’m working on (North senior lineman Jarrett) Wishon.”

Last year, Western dipped to 3-8. But Chambers had one incredible game — against Maryland of the ACC.

“They finally pulled away in the second half,” says Chambers. “But our whole team was motivated. Maryland was a little faster and a little taller, but we showed ‘em we could play. Every player on our team’s got their own story why they didn’t get to go to a big school, so when you get a chance to play one of them, you give it all.”

Chambers is already excited about this fall’s opener, which will come against some even bigger boys — LSU.

Chambers’ summer job has helped prepare him for the bayou battle. He works for a moving company, rising daily to lug around a few thousand pounds of furniture.

“That really helps my stamina,” says Chambers. “My job’s tougher than my workouts.”

On June 20, he’ll leave his Charlotte home to return to Western to join teammates for running and lifting sessions. He’s looking forward to it. He no longer frets about what might have been. He loves Western and it loves him. His one regret is that it sure would be nice to be on TV a little more often, so the folks back home could check him out.

“Someone asked me the other day if I was still in school,” Chambers laughs. “I guess being at Western, it’s like I just fell off the map.”

But that’s hardly the case. Chambers, as much as any 22-year-old in this world, knows exactly who he is and where he’s headed.