MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech secondary coach Torrian Gray, who played for the Minnesota Vikings, said he thinks Kam Chancellor will be a standout at strong safety in the NFL.

ATLANTA -- When asked what he got for Christmas, Kam Chancellor had to pause for a couple of seconds Sunday night.

"I got one thing but it's all right for me," Chancellor said. "I don't really care about receiving stuff. I like to give."

So typical for Virginia Tech's senior free safety. Shoot, the guy has been giving himself up for the Hokies' football program for nearly four years now.

Since showing up in Blacksburg in 2006, Chancellor has been moved like a chess pawn. He's been all over the lot, starting as a quarterback, where he lasted three days before being moved to cornerback. A year later, Chancellor was switched to rover. In 2008, he was sent packing again, moving to free safety, where he has spent the past two seasons.

Why has Chancellor had more different addresses that somebody in the Witness Protection plan? He's a player, that's why. We're talking about a 6-foot-4, 230-pound guy whose speed and athleticism make NFL scouts drool.

"He's the total package," Tech secondary coach Torrian Gray said. "He's big, strong and physical. He's the best athlete we've got back there. And when we've needed him at a certain spot, he's moved and done the job.

"Some guys wouldn't want to do that. But Kam Chancellor is different. He's not about himself, he's all about the team. And I love the guy."

Chancellor will play his final college game in the Georgia Dome, where Tech faces Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. It will be his team-high 41st consecutive start, a streak that began in 2007.

Little wonder, Chancellor was chosen by defensive coordinator Bud Foster as this season's sole caretaker of the famous lunch pail that symbolizes the Hokies' hard-working, blue-collar mentality.

"Coach Foster gave it to me this past summer and told me he felt like I was the guy to hold the lunch pail ... as a trustworthy, dedicated guy to the defense," Chancellor said. "I keep it in my locker. I take it to every practice, every road trip, every home game when go to Roanoke to stay the night before games, so it's there for every meeting.

"After the Alabama game [Sept. 5 season opener in the Georgia Dome], I thought I was supposed to pass it on, and Coach Foster told me to keep it. I didn't know that one guy could have it all season. But I'm proud to be that guy. And I never lost track of it once!"

Gray said it won't be hard to keep track of Chancellor, too, down the road. Chancellor's address next fall will be somewhere in the NFL, Gray assures.

He should know. After starring at Tech, Gray was a second-round draft pick of the Minnesota Vikings, for whom he played three years before having his career cut short by a knee injury.

"I think Kam will play a long time in the NFL," Gray said. "His physical ability is off the chart and no one is going to work harder than he does. He will be a strong safety there, which is the position he's best suited for. He won't have to cover wide receivers there, where we ask him to do here. There he will only have to cover tight ends and running backs, and it's going to make it easier for Kam."

It's about time something comes easy for Chancellor. He's had enough tough times, growing up in a crime-riddled neighborhood in Norfolk. He has met his father only once and was one of five children raised by his mother, Karen Lambert.

"She's one of my role models," Chancellor said. "A strong, independent woman who has always been there for us all our life. She did whatever she needed to do to get us what we needed, whether it was a roof over our head, clothes on our back, food in our mouths.

"She's been on the grind all the time trying to do for us, working two or three jobs at a time. She made sure we all got through school, made sure our grades were right, she did it all by herself."

Chancellor said he's played the game he's loved since a young tyke in hopes of one day making the NFL, where some sweet paychecks would allow him to give something back to the most important person in his life.

"I want to give my mom a great, big lift ... give her relief, man," he said. "I want to be able to give her anything she wants. I just want to make her happy all the time. She deserves everything."

Chancellor considered leaving Tech early for the NFL last January. He decided to say when the NFL's advisory committee for underclass draft prospects listed him as a third-round pick.

"They said I was a third-round guy, which is not really bad, but I thought I could improve on that and help my team out. Plus, I had the national championship on my mind," Chancellor said.

While he had some down times this season, particularly against Alabama, in which he got beat deep for a touchdown pass, Chancellor was solid enough to earn second-team All-ACC honors. His 64 tackles ranked third on the team, plus he had two interceptions. His fumble recovery and return to the 10-yard line was the game-changing play in Tech's victory over Virginia in the regular-season finale.

"I think I did better than last year and that's what I wanted to do," Chancellor said. "I think I've progressed the way I wanted to."

Gray said it's time the humble Chancellor gets rewarded for all he's done.

"I'm biased as a coach, but from a physical ability standpoint, I honestly think he's a first-round talent," Gray said. "With his mindset, how smart the kid is, how hard the kid is going to work, how he prepares, I really do.

"Now the film may not say that. So whoever takes him in the second round, third round, wherever he may go, they're going to get a hell of a football player."