One of the most dominant senior defensive tackles the Hillsdale College football program has seen in a long time got his just reward at the Charger football program's annual Postseason Banquet on Sunday, Nov. 14.
Nate Chambers was honored with the Roy Beck Most Valuable Player Award for the 2021 season, at the banquet, held at the Searle Center. The MVP award was voted on by the players of Team 129.
Chambers is the first defensive lineman to be named the Charger MVP since Al Huge in 1987. He was a dominant force for Hillsdale in 2021, leading the team with 6.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss and totalling 58 tackles, an extremely high number for a player at his position. The senior also added a strip-sack fumble recovery, two pass breakups and a blocked extra point.
While those numbers are impressive, they undersell the impact Chambers had in disrupting opposing game plans, as they don't count the number of times pressure up the middle from the defensive tackle either forced an errant throw by an opposing quarterback or funneled a running back directly into the arms of another Hillsdale tackler.
Chambers also was a recipient of the Joe Vijuk Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman Award, as well as the 2021 Captains Award for serving as team captain in the 2021 season, along with Alex Anschutz, Zach Herzog, Cole Johnson, Luke Keller, Konnor Maloney and Kyle Parran.
Other season award winners for the Chargers are listed below.
Howard "Champ" Messenger Award - Cole Johnson
Leonard Urbanik Award for Scholarship, Leadership and Ability - Calvin McNellie
Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman - Jack McCarthy
Most Outstanding Offensive Back - Isaac TeSlaa
Ralph Miller III Award as the team's Most Outstanding Linebacker - Alex Anschutz
Most Outstanding Defensive Back - Zach Herzog
E.P.E.P. (Every Player Every Play) Award - Kyle Parran
One Play Warrior Award - Jack Shannon