Trinidad Chambliss' future at Ole Miss is up in the air, but uncertainty has been a common theme along journey

The journey for the Ole Miss QB has been one of the more unique ones as the Rebs gear up to face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl

NEW ORLEANS -- As much as the focus is on Trinidad Chambliss' present ahead of the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal rematch against Georgia in the College Football Playoff on New Year's Day, the Ole Miss QB's future also hangs in the balance -- which is indicative of the state of Ole Miss' entire program after Lane Kiffin left for LSU. 

There are vestiges of normalcy within the experience in Oxford. Meeting and practice times are the same, for instance. But the sideline basketball hoop players dunked on after turnovers is gone, signaling that change is coming in the Pete Golding era. There are also six coaches ready to join the Tigers staff once Ole Miss' season is over, and many players, including Chambliss, who are going to have decisions to make once the journey ends in the 2025 season. 

Chambliss has experienced one of the bumpiest coaching carousel rides anyone can remember with the particulars of Kiffin's exit, and for a player coming from Division II Ferris State, he admits "it's a little different." But is he speaking with Kiffin since he's left?  

"No, I don't. I don't think that's even allowed right now. I don't communicate with Coach Kiffin right now," Chambliss said. 

When asked by CBS Sports in a followup whether he knows if his parents or any representatives are talking to Kiffin, Chambliss said, "no I do not." 

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The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2, and Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. will be among the six staffers joining Kiffin in Baton Rouge when Ole Miss' season ends. Chambliss' future, meanwhile, remains up in the air as he awaits the decision on an NCAA waiver for a sixth year of eligibility. He has been seeking the waiver since November and has recently retained attorney Tom Mars, who filed a letter on his behalf with supporting evidence for his claim regarding a medical redshirt for his 2022 season at Ferris State. Mars filed documents to the NCAA via Ole Miss on Dec. 22 and communicated to CBS Sports that the status of Chambliss' waiver remains pending. 

Chambliss had already sat out of the 2021 season at Ferris State via traditional redshirt. In 2022, he dealt with respiratory issues, and the entire experience had him questioning if he was on the right path at all. 

"I wanted to play basketball in college. I wasn't a big, strong, tall guy, and I was pretty raw out of high school, didn't really know a lot about the game, my football IQ wasn't that good at the time," Chambliss said. "So I ended up redshirting my freshman year, and then I medically redshirted in 2022, so they actually went back-to-back and won national titles in '21 and '22, so I felt like I wasn't contributing to the team. And I felt like I didn't know if I had a role at Ferris State. 

"So, I had doubts. And [considered] maybe just transferring to a Division III program and just playing basketball, you know, something that I loved. I just prayed about it, talked to my family, and just that offseason, and '23 just was in the weight room, constantly watching film, trying to get better, trying to develop as a quarterback. And, you know, it paid off." 

Chambliss describes himself as a facilitating point guard as a passer, just getting the ball to his guys in open space, much like his role in Ole Miss' offense. He came to Ole Miss after a standout 2023 season at Ferris State in which he was a Division II All-American and led the Bulldogs to a national championship. From Ferris State, Chambliss went in the portal in the spring of 2024 and immediately heard from multiple schools. Temple's pursuit was strongest, but Western Kentucky, Marshall, App State, BYU, Utah and Ohio State reached out. 

As CBS Sports reported in September, Chambliss had a visit scheduled to Temple in which the Owls were prepared to pull out all the stops to land him, but Ole Miss got him to Oxford before that. In Chambliss' words: "They weren't letting me leave the building." Tennessee, Florida State, and Arkansas reached out while Chambliss was on his initial visit to Oxford, but they were also too little too late. 

"I was very impressed with him when he came in," Ole Miss QB coach Joe Judge said. "Really the professionalism he had. He was a guy that when he came in on his visit, I remember his father taking out two legal pads -- one for him, one for Trin. They had a typed out a list of questions they wanted to go through. And as we were presenting and talking to them about our offense, our situation, our university, they were checking boxes off and they were making notes to follow-up questions.

"So they came very prepared. It wasn't a 'Hey, show us your facilities. Let's do a quick tour around what your stadium looks like.' They were there for 'We're taking the next step in a career choice, and we want to make sure that these things fit what we're looking for.'" 

Unsure of what his role was going to be at the beginning of the season as he came in behind former starter Austin Simmons, Chambliss figured he would be a short-yardage changeup option at quarterback that would serve as a primary run threat. The feeling of uncertainty from Ole Miss was mutual.

"We didn't know what he'd turn out to be," an Ole Miss source said of Chambliss back in September. "Obviously, we thought he was good when we took him. But to say what he is now is what we thought he'd be when we took him would be incorrect."

What he is now is 60 minutes away from a rarity in college football: winning a rematch and righting a wrong from October where Ole miss failed to finish against Georgia. A win not only keeps a season going, but it keeps the band together if only temporarily before the future comes.