‘Everybody’s journey is different’
Now at Maryland, ex-Poly wideout Chambers hopes 6th college stop is most fruitful
In the short history of Maryland football players who have worn the No. 0 jersey (the NCAA prohibited that adornment until the 2020 season), only linebackers Terrence Lewis in 2021 and Greg ChinaRose in 2022 chose that number. For wide receiver Tyrese Chambers, the No. 0 jersey was natural — and motivational.
“Nobody offered me out of high school,” said the Baltimore resident and Poly graduate, who shares the number with freshman linebacker and Glen Burnie resident Neeo Avery. “I was first-team All-State out of high school, All-Metro. I had [more than 1,100] yards receiving. I just knew I was going to get something, but I didn’t get one. Not even from Towson, who we play Sept. 2. I was upset. It hurts not getting anything. But you can sit back and complain or you can go out there and get it, and that’s what I had to go do. I had to go out there and get it.”
Numbers have been meaningful for Chambers. As a freshman at Sacred Heart in 2019, he earned the Northeast Conference’s Offensive Rookie of the Year honor and the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision’s All-America accolade after ranking third in the league in receiving yards (811) and fifth in touchdown catches (eight).
At FIU in 2021, Chambers amassed 1,074 yards and nine touchdown catches, eclipsing single-season records by former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton and former Tennessee Titans tight end Jonnu Smith, respectively. The 6-foot, 192-pound graduate student is intent on sowing similar success for the Terps, whom he idolized.
“God’s timing is always perfect,” he said. “He’s always on time, and I wouldn’t want to be here any other year than this year.”
Chambers has crisscrossed the nation to get to Maryland. After graduating from Poly in 2018, he enrolled at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, and then Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas.
After that 2019 season at Sacred Heart, Chambers transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio, but decommitted and did not play in 2020. He entered the transfer portal after the 2021 campaign, but chose to return to FIU to graduate with a bachelor’s in liberal arts and marketing.
In December, Chambers announced his transfer to the Terps — his sixth stop at the college level. He said he has no regrets about the road he has traveled.
“Everybody’s journey is different,” he said. “The best part about mine that makes my journey unique is the fact that I was able to climb up the ladder. Usually how it goes is a lot of guys go from Power 5s and start to work their way down. I fortunately was able to work my way up and be at my dream school.”
Chambers credited each stop with his development. He said junior college instructed him on how to be thankful. He said he deepened his faith at Sacred Heart. And he said earning his degree at FIU was an accomplishment. “I learned something from everywhere I went, and it was fun everywhere,” he said.
Fellow wide receiver Jeshaun Jones said Chambers’ background is viewed not as a liability, but as an asset.
“Just being versatile and taking different coaching and learning different players and navigating different things with how different programs run things, he’s adapting very quick,” Jones said. “There wasn’t much of a learning curve because he’s been to three or four different places. That’s a testament to him of what kind of guy he is. He really stuck it out by going to juco and then FIU, and now he gets an opportunity to come home. So it’s sweet to see that. I’m happy for him and happy for his opportunity.”
Chambers and Jones have been vital for a wide receiving group composed of 10 freshmen, according to coach Mike Locksley.
“I think Tyrese has an ability as a leader because everything he’s gotten, he’s had to earn, and those are the types of stories that when he talks to the younger players in that room, that’s where I see his leadership showing up,” he said.
Chambers offered a glimpse of his potential during the spring football game April 30 when he caught four passes for 37 yards and two touchdowns and was voted the Most Valuable Player by the media. Redshirt senior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who threw one of those touchdown passes, said adding Chambers to the offense should benefit the passing attack.
“His biggest thing that flips me out is how he tracks the ball,” Tagovailoa said. “When the ball’s in the air, he knows how to track it. His route running is really smooth. He’s a smooth player. That’s my boy.”
Chambers has tested his teammates on defense. Senior cornerback Tarheeb Still said he appreciates how Chambers goes about his work.
“He doesn’t really say too much,” Still said. “He just likes to have fun and go at it and me, too. That’s nice to see.”
Many eyes will be trained on Chambers and junior Kaden Prather, a West Virginia transfer, to see whether they can relieve opposing defenses’ attention on Jones, who led last year’s team in catches (44), receiving yards (557) and touchdown catches (four). Chambers said he is up to the challenge.
“Pressure can either make or break you. Pressure can crush you or pressure can make diamonds,” he said. “My whole life, I feel like I’ve been dealing with adversity. But pressure isn’t about anything. I’ve just got to stay focused and just do what I’ve been doing my whole life.”
Chambers acknowledged that he would have loved to contribute to Maryland for an entire career rather than just one season. But he refuses to bemoan his path.
“It’s just life,” he said. “Every time I get to the top of the mountain, it’s the bottom of the next one. I was an All-American [in] FCS, and it wasn’t enough. I had to break records at the FBS level, and people were saying that I wasn’t going to start there. Once I broke T.Y. Hilton’s records, people said I wasn’t at a Power Five. After this year, I don’t want to hear anything because I’ve done everything they said I couldn’t do.”