SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss already 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, one of the breakout college football stars of 2026, filed a medical redshirt waiver for a sixth year of eligibility on Nov. 16. He has yet to receive 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 Thursday 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. 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.
Chambliss' lawyer, Tom Mars, mentioned in a letter to the NCAA on the quarterback's behalf that his client would "suffer irreparable harm" if he's not granted the waiver. The crux of Chambliss' case is that he's asking for a medical redshirt year from his sophomore season at Ferris State. He supplied 91 pages of medical documents that showed he was battling a respiratory issue and hired Mars to help his case. The NCAA is seeking contemporaneous notes that detail his care.
Mars expressed his frustration with the pace of the case to ESPN on Tuesday night.
"It's been more than seven weeks since Ole Miss provided the NCAA with all the information they needed to make a decision," he said. "If the NCAA believes its bylaws clearly required more than what was provided, or that the information wasn't sufficient to justify a waiver, one has to wonder why they still haven't made a decision."
Mars said that he and other lawyers have been working for the past week on immediate contingency plans in the event the waiver is denied.
When asked by ESPN how he'd plead his case to the NCAA, Chambliss responded: "I would just say we have evidence and we have an actual reasoning. There's some kids that don't have a reasoning on why they should get another year. And I mean, I have an actual case.
"It's legit, and I hope that they can find whatever in their hearts or in their minds that they can see that and see that I'm a great guy. I'm all for college football and I feel like this year has proven that I'm good for college football and I think that I should deserve another year."
Chambliss also reflected on what the money in the contract he agreed to with Ole Miss would mean to him and his family.
"It would mean a lot," he said. "Not everything is about money, but that sure does help. And for me to be in the position that I'm right now, all the hard work and sacrifice that I put in to get to where I am right now, I feel like I've earned that. And I feel like with the waiver being approved, I've earned the right to have the success or whatever comes with it. And that if it's NIL or any other things, then so be it."
Chambliss' public commitment to return to Ole Miss for 2026 provided another mile marker of momentum. This all came a few weeks after the school appeared fragile in the wake of Lane Kiffin's departure to LSU.
But two CFP wins and a flurry of returners such as Chambliss, star tailback 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.'"
