Trinidad Chambliss Pursues Legal Action After NCAA Eligibility Denial

By Kabir Syali

Ole Miss’ National Championship hopes ended with a close loss to Miami on January 8th. While most of the team will work in the off-season under new head coach Pete Golding to continue their success from the 2025-2026 season, the Cinderella story of their quarterback may be coming to an end. 

Trinidad Chambliss just completed the 5th year of his college career, and 1st year at Ole Miss. He was originally intended to be a backup quarterback for starter Austin Simmons; however, due to a week 2 injury, Simmons was forced to sit out, and Chambliss stepped up. Not only did Chambliss step up to the challenge, he exceeded many people’s expectations, taking his team to the College Football Playoffs. Chambliss and his team were no strangers to challenges either, losing their head coach and much of the coaching staff right before the playoffs. Chambliss outperformed every expectation and fulfilled the dreams of many Ole Miss fans, but that may be the finale for his college career.

Chambliss submitted a waiver to the NCAA petitioning for a 6th year of eligibility due to a medical redshirt season ending in tonsil removal in 2022, during his time at Ferris State. The NCAA denied this request, citing that Ferris State’s records claim Chambliss redshirted for “team development.” Results like this are often the case for bureaucratic affairs in college athletics – NCAA executives are quick to read the paperwork but often fail to read between the lines. For this reason, the NCAA has only approved 6 of 9 eligibility extensions for college football players this season. The outcome for Chambliss is unfortunate given that he didn’t receive his diagnosis until the middle of the season. Eventually he underwent surgery at the end of the season even though he sat out from practice and games the majority of the season due to respiratory issues. 

Losing Chambliss puts Ole Miss in a risky position regarding their quarterback room for the upcoming season. Original starter Austin Simmons just transferred to Missouri and their former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. left with Lane Kiffin for LSU. It seems as if their QB room has been cleared out. Ole Miss will have to hope that new OC John David Baker, returning after 2 years at East Carolina University, can develop Deuce Knight, a transfer from Auburn. 

The fight isn’t over for Chambliss; he is now pursuing legal action against the NCAA with the help of Tom Mars who also helped him file his original petition for eligibility. For Ole Miss fans hoping that Chambliss returns, this move may provide some hope. The NCAA historically does not have success when facing legal action because their rules don’t extend to the courtroom. 

The NCAA always seems to be an all-powerful organization with total control over college athletes but, but because the NCAA rules exist in a grey area of legality, many claims brought up in court don’t hold up to a jury. Athletes and schools are recognizing this now, often bypassing the NCAA bureaucracy in favor of pursuing legal action. This choice has led to some key evolutions in collegiate sport; revenue-sharing, NIL rights, and even the current state of the College Football Playoffs are all results of colleges and their athletes refusing to abide by the NCAA’s rules. Understanding that, the NCAA might not have the final say in the fate of Trinidad Chambliss as we put more trust in the judicial system to run college football.