SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss already has agreed to a deal to return to Ole Miss next season. Now, he has to wait to see if he’ll be eligible to play.
Chambliss, the breakout college football star of 2026, filed a medical redshirt waiver for a sixth year of eligibility on Nov. 16. He’s yet to get a definitive answer from the NCAA, although it gave a verbal denial for the waiver in December.
«It has been a little frustrating,» Chambliss told ESPN on Tuesday ahead of the Rebels’ College Football Playoff semifinal against Miami. «But I can’t let that overtake what my mindset is right now and that’s to win a football game and beat Miami (on Thursday). So I would say I’m a little frustrated, but I can’t let that take over me.»
Chambliss is coming off one of the season’s defining performances in one of its wilder games, as he threw for 362 yards in a 39-34 quarterfinal win over Georgia, which included 20 fourth-quarter points for the Rebels. If he were to return next season, he’d be set to earn millions of dollars, something he didn’t get when he left Division II Ferris State for Ole Miss last year. Entering the season, he was slated to back up Austin Simmons.
Kewan Lacy and a handful of star defensive players have fortified Ole Miss for the future.
«We’re committed to him and I’ll leave that to the legal people, who have kind of looked into the case, and whether or not it has legs,» Ole Miss quarterback coach Joe Judge said. «And obviously they felt very strongly about it. So when they told us like, ‘Hey, this is something that absolutely should be ruled in his favor.’ Then we said, ‘Let’s be committed to our player and back him up.'»
