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Up next in our offseason recruiting scouting reports is the 6-foot safety out of Schertz, Texas, Mason Chambers. Matt Campbell and Co. won this recruiting battle over SMU, Air Force, Army, and Abilene Christian when the 3-star recruit committed back in July of 2019. Chambers is one of three safeties in this class, joining Craig McDonald and Jordyn Morgan. Jake Brend covered Craig McDonald here.
Style
Mason Chambers has a lot of potential to be an exciting safety. By exciting, I mean this kid plays downhill football and has the mentality to make the big hit whenever he gets the chance. Only being 6 feet tall, fundamentals will be proven to be more important as he might be a little undersized.
Where he lacks height, he makes up in athleticism. Often times he finds himself slightly out of position on plays downfield, but he has great recovery speed and knows where to go when the football is in the air. Chambers will need some work on his coverage, but has the talent to get better quickly after getting more time with Division 1 coaching.
Film
Although this first play is a bit blurry, you can see Chambers make an excellent play. He rotates with the motion from the offense and finds himself in great position.
Chambers reads, reacts, and gets downhill quickly to make the big hit and stop the running back in his tracks.
This is a safety’s dream play. A wide receiver runs a route into your zone, and you lay the boom and look like a badass. He executes this play to perfection.
In a cover one scheme, he has the whole field to cover, but reads where the quarterback is going to go and nails the receiver to prevent him from any run after the catch and stops him short of the first down marker.
This might be my favorite play of his entire highlight reel. The offense uses a play that is designed to find a hole in a cover 2 defense, a simple flare and wheel concept.
Chambers makes a perfect break on the ball and is able to not only get in position, but make a terrific catch to get the INT.
As mentioned earlier, Chambers biggest weakness is getting out of position. The receiver on this play runs a great route, faking a post before flipping his hips to the sideline. In an ideal world, Chambers would keep everything in front of him and hover over the top more towards the sideline.
But, since Mason made a great break on the football he was able to get back to where he needed to be in order to force the turnover.
Player Comparison
Obviously, Mason Chambers obviously is not as good as an NFL safety. But, his play style closely resembles Chargers safety Derwin James. While watching James’ film at Florida State, it is hard not to see the resemblance.
Both safeties play downhill football at 100 miles an hour. They both make great breaks on footballs in the air. Most importantly, they both love to lay the boom. Anyone coming over the middle better look out for Mason Chambers.
Scheme
Chambers is very versatile, and should fit nicely in Iowa State’s 3-3-5 defense, where he could shift down to STAR if he needs to. Chambers does have to prove himself once he gets onto campus, but come a few years and he could be an exciting player in this system.
Final Verdict
I’m not sure that Chambers will see the field a whole lot as a freshman, but he is a guy that we could keep in our back pocket for the future. As he continues to develop as a safety, his athleticism will skyrocket his potential.