- - Will the legendary story of Trinidad Chambliss continue for another season at Ole Miss?

Ross Dellenger January 5, 2026 at 8:44 PM

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OXFORD — A couple miles off campus, across the street from a Super Walmart and adjacent to a Chili’s, there exists a Planet Fitness that served as the primary workout space for a newly added transfer football player for the Ole Miss Rebels.

For a couple weeks in May, few if anyone recognized the former Division II quarterback from Ferris State as he swiped a fob for access to the Planet Fitness franchise’s Oxford location, where, every day, he lifted weights and performed conditioning work with the general public of this college town.

In a little-known fact, Trinidad Chambliss wasn’t ruled academically eligible at Ole Miss until well into the summer.

“I couldn’t even work out with the team,” Chambliss told Yahoo Sports in an interview earlier this fall from the team’s football facility. “There was a point over the summer where they thought I had to go back to Ferris State.”

The anecdote is yet another interesting piece in one of the most fascinating stories in the recent history of the sport: The stunning, meteoric rise of Trinidad Chambliss, from complete obscurity to playoff hero, from an unrecognizable Michigan kid to a college football star in the Deep South, from a backup at the D-II level to a Southeastern Conference starting QB in a single calendar year.

It’s a made-for-TV spectacle, a story with all the hallmarks for a Netflix documentary.

But a few days before Chambliss leads his streaking Ole Miss Rebels (13-1) into a College Football Playoff semifinal against the Miami Hurricanes (12-2) in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, the quarterback’s tale is overshadowed by its latest chapter: It is not clear whether his story will continue in college beyond this month.

Lording over Chambliss — and perhaps the entire college football quarterback transfer market — is a decision from the NCAA to grant him a sixth season of eligibility next year. Three days into the 15-day transfer portal, the association has not ruled.

Chambliss — his legal representation, parents, agent and current school, too — is left in limbo while preparing for the biggest game of his life.

“The unknown is uncomfortable,” says Trent Chambliss, the quarterback’s father.

While a half-dozen elite quarterback transfers make their future decisions and sign multi-million dollar contracts with a new school or their current program, Trinidad Chambliss is twisting in the winds of uncertainty, unable to officially strike a new deal.

Ole Miss has secured a commitment from Trinidad Chambliss for next year if he is granted a waiver by the NCAA. (David Buono/Getty Images) (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

That didn’t stop him overnight Sunday from agreeing to a new contract with the Rebels contingent on having the waiver granted, according to those with knowledge of the situation.

The agreement sets up potential legal action if his waiver is not granted.

Millions of dollars are now on the line.

In the first full year of schools directly compensating athletes — and despite a cap on that compensation — the market for a top-five seasoned power conference starting quarterback stands to reach as much as $7 million annually when factoring incentives, says Fletcher Smith, the founder and president of Blueprint Sports, who serves as Chambliss' representative.

“If Trinidad were in the portal, he’d be at the top of the list of transfer quarterbacks,” Smith said. “Certainly as Ole Miss continues to win, the economic impact loss on him would be substantial if the upside is at least $5 million. We are talking about a significant financial loss.”

Manziel-like magic

From the stands of the New Orleans Superdome, tears poured from Cheryl Chambliss’ eyes as her son led Ole Miss’ second-half comeback in a stunning upset of Georgia to win the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal, 39-34, in one of the best quarterback performances in college football postseason history.

“It was the best we have ever seen,” tweeted Chambliss’ former coach, LSU’s Lane Kiffin.

Against defensive mastermind Kirby Smart and a group of high-profile defenders, Chambliss threw for 362 yards (his eighth 300-yard game this season), two touchdowns, completed 65.2% of his passes and took his streak without an interception to 136 attempts.

At one point during the second-half comeback last week, Chambliss completed nine consecutive passes, including a 36-yarder on fourth down, an eight-yarder to convert a third down and two more passes while evading would-be sacks by dancing, twirling and skipping through the backfield in moves that remind some of a certain former Heisman Trophy winner.

After the Sugar Bowl trophy presentation, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter chased down the quarterback to give him a message: “You’re incredible!”

“The two plays he made right here where we are standing,” Carter said after the celebration while on the field, “that’s some Johnny Manziel stuff.”

As Trinidad whirled around and heaved deep balls, in the stands, his father whispered quietly to himself, “Finally.”

“We’ve been waiting a long time for him to play free and have fun,” Trent Chambliss said. “He’s had an amazing season, but we haven’t seen the best of him until that game. Western Michigan knows that Trinidad. Ferris State knows that Trinidad. Everybody’s been waiting for that to happen. It was cool for him to finally reach a level of comfort.”

Perhaps it’s understandable why Trinidad has played more conservative this season before Thursday’s game. After all, he’d never been here before. This time last year, he was leading Ferris State to the Division II national championship. Five months earlier, he was in a heated quarterback battle just to win the starting job on the DII level.

And now here he was on national television carving through one of the sport’s powerhouse programs to lead his team one win away from competing for its first national title in over 60 years.

It doesn’t seem real.

Well before this game, even before the playoffs began this year, none of this seemed real to Trinidad, especially when considering that 17 months ago, in his first game as the full-time starter at Ferris, he threw two interceptions, completed 13 passes and the team lost 19-3.

“I had a lot of doubts through that point in time,” he said. “And then now, it’s just wild to think about this season here. I didn’t expect to play as much. I was just prepared if they needed me for short yardage.”

So much needed to happen for him to arrive at this point. First, he had to win that starting quarterback competition at Ferris, perform well enough in his first season as a full-time starter in 2024 to attract other offers (51 touchdowns), get into the spring transfer portal, and then have Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. find video of him playing on, of all places, Twitter/X.

Then he needed to get academically cleared at Ole Miss. Those troubles had nothing to do with his grades (he’s an A student). But some of his credits from Ferris State didn’t transfer to the Ole Miss business school.

Ultimately, the university cleared him. But it meant changing his major from business administration to multi-dimensional studies, petitioning the business school to accept some of the credits and then taking a full load of six classes over the summer.

“It was nerve wracking,” Cheryl said.

And then came the final break: starting quarterback Austin Simmons’ injury in the third game of the season. Even when Simmons grew healthy, Kiffin never yanked Trinidad from the lineup.

The coach, now at LSU, believed in Trinidad.

As it turns out, he still does.

Over the last two weeks, Ole Miss university and athletic department administrators have been notified of LSU’s interest in Trinidad.

The problem, of course, for any school with interest in the quarterback: He’s not currently eligible to play any longer in college.

Will the ‘underdog’ get another year?

Trinidad is one of dozens of college athletes in the last few months to request an additional year of eligibility through the NCAA’s much-maligned waiver system.

The association grants extended eligibility waivers in a case-by-case basis through the 21-person Division I Academics and Eligibility Committee. Committee members review evidence in each case before determining whether to grant the waiver.

The eligibility waiver process has been the target of public criticism from within NCAA member schools and legal scrutiny from attorneys who, ultimately, file suit on behalf of their athlete clients who’ve had waivers denied.

Attorneys have filed more than 40 eligibility-based lawsuits against the NCAA in the last year, and the association has been successful in having the cases dropped or winning preliminary rulings in more than half of those. A handful of athletes, however, have succeeded in a judge granting an injunction to permit them to play an additional season.

If Chambliss’ waiver is denied, another lawsuit may soon be filed.

“I’d think everybody in college football would love to see Trinidad Chambliss come back and play another year,” said Tom Mars, an attorney who has for years represented coaches and players against the NCAA. “America loves an underdog. He’s the ultimate underdog. If the NCAA has the discretion to grant him another year, why wouldn't they?”

Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss celebrates with teammates after their win over Georgia. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton) ()

NCAA rules traditionally permit athletes a five-year window to play four full seasons of competition. Extending eligibility is a complicated and divisive issue. While granting older college players more seasons of competition for, at times, legitimate reasons, a decision to extend their eligibility potentially impacts roster spots for high school players. It’s an argument the association has made in public comments as well as in court documents.

However, a new consideration is swaying some judges to rule against the NCAA in eligibility cases: the advent of NIL compensation and direct pay from schools to athletes.

Extra eligibility now has a price on it. And Trinidad’s is quite high.

Already, the quarterback is suffering financial “damages,” says Mars, for the NCAA’s delay in its decision. Quarterbacks are entering the portal and signing with other programs or their current schools in a competitive market from which his client is, for now, absent.

For instance, one of the most highly sought transfer quarterbacks, Brendan Sorsby of Cincinnati, signed with Texas Tech on Sunday for an annual compensation of at least $5 million, according to those with knowledge of the contract. That figure is on par with compensation for many third-round selections in the NFL Draft.

“I wonder if anyone realizes that the urgency isn’t about the portal closing Jan. 16, but it’s how long is this elite quarterback market going to be open?” Mars said. “As I understand it, not much longer. Everyone wants closure as soon as possible, but there’s a significant economic impact caused by the delay here.”

Trinidad’s case for a sixth year of eligibility hinges on him proving to the NCAA that he was unable to play during the 2022 season at Ferris State — his sophomore year — because of an illness. The quarterback used his redshirt season in 2021 as a freshman and then missed the 2022 season while fighting respiratory issues that doctors eventually solved through surgery to remove his tonsils, according to a 91-page filing drafted by Mars and forwarded by Ole Miss to the NCAA on Dec. 22. Mars drafted another document sent to the NCAA on Sunday re-emphasizing that the NCAA has the sufficient evidence needed to grant the waiver based on the association’s own bylaw language.

As part of the 91-page filing, Mars included documents from Dr. Anthony Howard, an ear, nose and throat specialist who treated Trinidad for the condition in December 2022. Ultimately, Howard determined that the quarterback suffered from “enlarged tonsils” and other ailments that limited his ability to play in 2022.

As of last week, NCAA officials signaled that they needed more information, specifically from Ferris State, before making a decision.

Meanwhile, the Chambliss family remains in limbo. And Ole Miss too.

Rebels coach Pete Golding is recruiting in the portal as if Trinidad is playing in his final year of eligibility.

“It affects a lot of decisions of you know who you got to go get,” said Golding. “Obviously, you're recruiting quarterbacks, but does [a QB] really want to [be] behind who I think would be the frontrunner for the Heisman or not? Hopefully we'll know sooner than later, but that's out of my control.”

More than just a runner

Last spring, when Ole Miss receiver Cayden Lee learned of the Rebels’ interest in a Division II quarterback, he thought it odd.

“I was like, ‘OK, first off, Kiffin is an offensive guy so he’s not going to just bring somebody in. He sees something in him,’” Lee said. “He got here and everybody was like, ‘He’s a runner.’ Well, we started throwing and I was like, ‘Oh s***. He can throw too. He’s like a little Kyler Murray out there.’”

Trinidad says he’s been painted as a runner his entire life.

“A lot of people didn’t think I could throw the ball,” he says.

Can he throw? Considering those quarterbacks with at least 20 touchdown passes this year, Trinidad has the third-fewest interceptions (three), he’s top-30 in completion percentage (66.4) and he’s top 20 in passing yards a game (261.4). And, yes, he can run too. His 520 yards rushing makes him 10th nationally in total offensive yards a game.

“Watching him on film, he's on a different level,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “He can do it all. He's a limitless football player.”

His dad credits some of Trinidad’s skills to him being an all-star shortstop in baseball and point guard in basketball — the hand-to-eye coordination, the field vision, the mental acuity.

All of it was on display well before he took the field for Ole Miss. During his recruiting visit to Oxford last April, Weis, Kiffin and Ole Miss offensive support staff member Joe Judge put the quarterback through multiple tests, his mother and father remember.

They assessed Trinidad’s depth of knowledge. They asked him to identify certain formations during a film test, diagnose a defense in another and then call out certain plays and checks in a third. In the middle of it all, Kiffin stopped the testing, pulled Cheryl and Trent into his office and delivered them a message before a planned visit to Temple, the only other FBS school having offered Trinidad.

“I’ve got good news and bad for you,” Kiffin said. “The bad news is I’m going to do my best to make sure you aren’t catching that flight to Philadelphia. The good news is we want your son.’”

Trent and Cheryl are educators at their core. Trent is a high school administrator at Wyoming High in a suburb of their hometown, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cheryl is a retired juvenile probation officer.

While their son, if granted an additional year of eligibility, stands to earn life-changing money, they are focused on something else: Trinidad is scheduled to graduate in May.

“A college degree is very important,” Cheryl says sternly.

He never did this for the money anyhow. In fact, last December when schools expressed an interest in Trinidad — UCF promised him a spot, Trinidad says — he decided against entering the NCAA fall transfer portal. After enough attention built over the next few months, he ultimately entered the spring portal.

He signed an undisclosed NIL deal with Ole Miss that was believed to be in the mid six-figures, though he “surpassed all of his benchmark” incentives, Cheryl said.

“He is at the point where the contract gets revisited as the season comes to an end,” Trent said. “There will definitely be some nice adjustments.”

Trent continues to express confidence that Trinidad will be granted the waiver, despite pessimism from many in and around Ole Miss. Asked about any recent communication with Kiffin in recruiting, Trent Chambliss is coy with his answer. He’s more understanding of Kiffin’s decision than most around and at the university. At one point, he even compares Trinidad’s move from Ferris State to Ole Miss to Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU.

“The communication with him is the best it could be based on how the circumstances unfolded,” Trent said. “It’s been pretty clear that this wasn’t an ideal situation. It’s new ground for everybody.”

But what if the waiver doesn’t come?

“There’s the injunction route and the other is going to the league,” said Smith, his NIL representative. “Those are the only two options. The injunction route has its own set of issues because we don’t know how long that process plays out. Do we get an answer in March or April? The draft is in April.”

In the meantime, one of college football’s best and most unlikely stories does have at least one more chapter left.

It will unfold on Thursday night in Glendale, Arizona, against the University of Miami.

There’s a funny story about that, too, yet another interesting wrinkle in the story of Trinidad Chambliss.

As the family left Ole Miss last April during their visit to campus, other schools learned of his commitment to the Rebels. Was there enough time to sway Trinidad away from Ole Miss?

Coaches from Tennessee called. Arkansas, too. Ohio State, Minnesota and Florida State.

“We were boarding our flight,” said Trent Chambliss, “when Miami called.”

Trinidad turned to his dad, “What should I tell these schools?”

“The hay is in the barn,” his dad replied.

Trinidad looked at his father confused, “Dad, what does that mean?”

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Sports”