Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’s quest to play for the Rebels next season took a hit when the NCAA outrightly denied his waiver to be granted an extra year of eligibility on Wednesday. Before joining Ole Miss, Chambliss spent four years at Ferris State, redshirting his freshman year in 2022 and not playing any games the following year either.
Chambliss’s eligibility quest is one of a few such cases among top college football teams currently tied up in court with the NCAA.
Trinidad Chambliss’s Lawyer Pulls Out the Receipts
On Saturday, Chambliss’s lawyer, Tom Mars, posted a clip on X of the quarterback from Dec. 2024, speaking about his contested medical redshirt year, raising questions about the NCAA’s denial of his waiver.
“Serious question: why would Trinidad Chambliss have said in Dec. 2024 he “had a medical redshirt” in 2022 unless he had been told so by Ferris State’s staff, who must have then believed (before he transferred) that Trinidad’s lengthy illness prevented him from playing in 2022-23?” Mars tweeted.
After two seasons of being the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, Chambliss entered the transfer portal and joined the Rebels, starting the season as the backup to Austin Simmons. He took on the QB1 duties after Simmons got injured on Sept. 6 and performed admirably, accounting for the Rebels’ desperation to have him back.
Chambliss finished the season with 3,937 passing yards, resulting in 22 touchdowns and three interceptions, while adding 527 rushing yards and eight touchdowns to earn himself a PFSN College QB Impact score of 90.3.
After the NCAA denied Chambliss’s waiver, his attorneys filed a response on Saturday, citing a clip from the 2024 DII championship game between the Ferris State Bulldogs and the Valdosta State Blazers, in which the commentators discussed the quarterback’s medical redshirt year.
“On February 6, 2026, a video clip from the December 2024 television broadcast of the NCAA Division II national championship game, which bore the NCAA’s logo, surfaced on social media,” the response read. “Trinidad, then in his second season of competition at Ferris State, started at quarterback and performed at a high level.
” He led Ferris State to victory. Close to the end of the game, the television broadcast crew made the following statements about Trinidad: it “took patience for the opportunity to be the everyday starter.” Trinidad had a “redshirt” in 2021 and a “medical redshirt” in 2022 … he was “not actively part of the games, [only] helping out at the practices.”
The Chambliss matter is set to rumble on indefinitely as Ole Miss coach Pete Golding awaits a verdict on whether he will have the talented quarterback under center for the Rebels next season.
