BYU football: O'Neill Chambers' career with Cougars is over

PROVO — Wide receiver O'Neill Chambers arrived at BYU in the summer of 2008 as a freshman from Harmony, Fla., eager to make an impact on the Cougar football program.

But Chambers didn't make the kind of impact that he, or the Cougars, had expected. Chambers, a junior, was suspended Monday for the remainder of the season for disciplinary reasons. Now, it appears his career at BYU is over.

"He's still in school. He'll finish the semester, then his intention is to transfer after this semester," coach Bronco Mendenhall said Tuesday. "I've got a list of schools that we released him to today. There were six or seven of them. I can't recall any of them what they were. That rarely means that's where he'll end up. But he had a list that he was interested in."

All those schools Chambers is looking at are Football Bowl Subdivision institutions, according to Mendenhall.

How will Chambers' absence affect the team?

"We've already been through it once this season, so I don't think it will really affect us at all," Mendenhall said, referring to a two-game suspension Chambers served earlier this season.

Chambers caught 40 passes for 466 yards and two touchdowns as a Cougar. He didn't catch a pass in the last two games since returning from his first suspension. This season, he had five receptions for 48 yards in five games while returning 15 kicks for 316 yards and five punts for 45 yards. Last Saturday against TCU, Chambers had five kickoff returns for 112 yards to become BYU's all-time leader in kickoff return yardage with 1,612 yards, eclipsing Mike Rigell (1998-2001), who amassed 1,545 kickoff return yards.

Prior to his freshman year, Chambers famously guaranteed the coaches that he would return a kickoff or punt for a touchdown. He came close with a 97-yard kickoff return last season at UNLV, three yards short of the end zone.

Asked to characterize Chambers' career, Mendenhall said, "I don't know if I could characterize it. I'm hopeful to help every player in the program to reach their goals and mature as people, make decisions and learn and grow. I don't think in that case that I could say I've been successful."

Added Mendenhall: "We all learn from choices we make. Sometimes there's only so many choices and chances you can be given before it starts to affect the team."