![\"Owen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-azfoot-0815-080.jpg\")
Owen Chambliss #12 of San Diego State looks on during the FanFest scrimmage at Snapdragon Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\nReturn west, young man<\/p>\n
Owen Chambliss grew up in Corona, once world-renowned for growing lemons.<\/p>\n
He experienced Southern California\u2019s cool winters and hot summers while starring on the gridiron at Centennial High School.<\/p>\n
The three-star prospect signed a letter of intent to attend and play for Utah in December 2022, picking the Utes over offers from 11 major programs \u2014 including USC and Washington.<\/p>\n
He was not prepared for what awaited him in Salt Lake City. Chambliss enrolled on Jan. 9, 2023, and by Jan. 12, statewide snowpack was 189% of normal for that time of year. An unprecedented 903 inches of snow fell on the Alta Ski Area just outside of Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had never seen snow in California, and then I went to Utah, and they had the worst winter in Utah history,\u201d Chambliss said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a car, didn\u2019t have anything. That was probably the first adversity I experienced, because I remember thinking, \u2018I\u2019m on my own, I have to figure out what works for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t long before Chambliss returned home, found a new school \u2014 San Diego State \u2014 and began putting up big numbers. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker leads San Diego State with 52 tackles, 20 more than the next-best tackler. The Aztecs are off this week before taking on Fresno State on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cOwen Chambliss has been playing at an elite level.\u201d SDSU coach Sean Lewis said. \u201cAnd I knew he had a special skillset, and his maturation and football IQ, but working with Coach (Rob) Aurich, they\u2019ve taken his game to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owen Chambliss #12 of San Diego State looks on during the FanFest scrimmage at Snapdragon Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nReturn west, young man<\/p>\n
After spending one season in Utah, Chambliss announced his intent to transfer. One month later, he enrolled at SDSU.<\/p>\n
\u201cEric Schmidt, our former D.C., was at UW when they offered me,\u201d he said, referring to the University of Washington. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of how I got my name here. Coach (Demetrius) Sumler also recruited me out of high school, so I kind of had a few connections here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside of the pristine weather, Chambliss came to SDSU looking for a better opportunity.<\/p>\n
He explained to the Union-Tribune after spring practice last year: \u201cI just didn\u2019t feel like Utah was the right culture fit for me. I think they\u2019re a great program, they\u2019ve got some great coaches. It just wasn\u2019t, unfortunately, right for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chambliss produced 31 tackles in his first six games as a redshirt freshman with the Aztecs last year before his body began to betray him.<\/p>\n
He needed surgery to fix a broken right hand, then he suffered a concussion, a broken right fibula and a hyperextended left elbow \u2014 all of which conspired to sideline him nearly the entire second half of the season.<\/p>\n
Outside of a pulled hamstring that cost him four weeks in his only season with the Utes, Chambliss had never dealt with any sort of injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely hard,\u201d he said. \u201cI think relying on my teammates helped, I have so many best friends on the team now, so just leaning on those guys every day. Making sure I stayed focused, I stayed in the film room, and not lose sight of the main goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis said the stop-start nature of Chambliss\u2019 injuries made things even worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were moments where I felt like he was gaining momentum last year, and something outside his control would happen that would kill that momentum and stunt his growth, and then we\u2019d have to regain it again, and something else would happen,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was a herky-jerkiness to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-azfoot-080405.jpg\")
San Diego State linebacker Owen Chambliss transferred to SDSU following a season at Arizona. (Hayne Palmour IV \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nHe\u2019s got it covered<\/p>\n
With Chambliss leading the way, the Aztecs\u2019 defense is rolling.<\/p>\n
At the midway point of the season, SDSU is tied for sixth in the country in scoring defense (12.2 points per game), eighth in third-down conversion rate (25.8%) and tied for 11th in red-zone defense (71.4%).<\/p>\n
The Aztecs are also ranked in the top 10 in two other major defensive categories: they\u2019re sixth in pass efficiency (101.88), and 10th in total defense (259.7 yards per game).<\/p>\n
With fellow linebacker Tano Letuli missing all or parts of four games due to injury, Chambliss has taken his game to another level to make up for the absence of his good friend and one of the team\u2019s captains.\u00a0He has five tackles-for-loss, three pass breakups and two sacks.<\/p>\n
Pro Football Focus lists Chambliss as the second-best Aztec in coverage behind cornerback Chris Johnson. Among players who have lined up on the field for at least 150 snaps against the pass, Chambliss grades out as the 14th-best linebacker in the country, according to PFF.<\/p>\n
Chambliss explained: \u201cIn high school, I actually played corner and safety, and I got offered by most schools to play safety. I was going to go to USC to play safety, so I have a natural DB background, and I think that I\u2019ve kept some of the main techniques and skills. Obviously, I continue to work on it and improve every day, but I feel real comfortable in coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Owen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-azfoot-0829-035.jpg\")
Owen Chambliss #12 and Brady Anderson #42 of the San Diego State Aztecs celebrate after Anderson\u2019s touchdown against the Stony Brook Seawolves during the second half at Snapdragon Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nThe \u2018make-you-right guy\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good thing for the Aztecs that Chambliss is comfortable covering athletic tight ends, and even the occasional slot receiver.<\/p>\n
Without a versatile, athletic linebacker handling weakside responsibilities, Aurich\u2019s 4-2-5 scheme would struggle to catch up with modern, fast-paced spread offenses.<\/p>\n
Chambliss is \u201ckind of the glue between the front half of our defense and the back half of our defense,\u201d Aurich said. \u201cHe\u2019s probably been the most valuable player for us on third down because of his flexibility as an athlete.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize how big he is. The way he\u2019s able to move his body in coverage and blitz has really allowed us to carry a little more size within our defensive front, and not have to live in sub-packages.\u201d<\/p>\n
SDSU\u2019s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach said he appreciates Chambliss\u2019 mental approach, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s up there with the best I\u2019ve coached,\u201d Aurich said. \u201cHe understands football at a high level, and he has good ideas \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a great feel for leverage and when to play fast, and when to play slow,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s a \u2018make-you-right guy,\u2019 and you\u2019ve got to have a couple of those guys on defense to cover up mistakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done a great job of any time anyone\u2019s been out of the gap, being able to fix the leverage and end up making the play.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lucky](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-azfoot-0815-029.jpg\")
Lucky Sutton #7 of San Diego State runs the ball against Owen Chambliss #12 of San Diego State during the FanFest scrimmage at Snapdragon Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nAnother level?<\/p>\n
When you think big, versatile, athletic linebackers who can cover, it\u2019s impossible not to think of Fred Warner. The Mission Hills High School grad is a four-time All-Pro with the San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n
Warner is just one of the NFL linebackers Chambliss says he studies: \u201cI think everybody wants to be Fred Warner, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
He believes the Cleveland Browns\u2019 Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, a Butkus Award winner at Notre Dame in 2020, is an amazing player and has been \u201ca little bit overlooked\u201d in the pros. He also watches some of future Hall of Famer Luke Kuechly\u2019s tape to see \u201chow he diagnoses the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chambliss added: \u201cI think it\u2019s helping.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if the game was starting to slow down for him in his second full season with the Aztecs, Chambliss offered \u201cthe game isn\u2019t moving slower\u201d but it \u201cfeels like I\u2019m moving faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aurich believes Chambliss needs to continue to improve his overall physicality for him to take the next step.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Owen has aspirations to be the best linebacker in the country. That\u2019s a goal of his,\u201d Aurich said.\u00a0\u201cHe wants to be up there with the greats that have played at this school and in this conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there\u2019s probably four or five plays on the season he wants back, and you want to coach guys who are like that. He holds himself to a really high standard, so I have no doubt he\u2019s going to achieve everything he wants to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the very least, the season so far has certainly proven Chambliss couldn\u2019t be further from one of those citrus fruits his hometown was so famous for back in the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Owen Chambliss grew up in Corona, once world-renowned for growing lemons. He experienced Southern California\u2019s cool winters and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1327,181,74,76,75,305,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-11728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-college-sports","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-sdsu-aztecs","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}