OXFORD – As of approximately 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, Trinidad Chambliss had yet to get to all of the messages on his phone. Given the gravity of the night he had, the quantity of those messages makes a lot of sense.
A year ago, the senior quarterback was playing at Ferris State, a Division II university located in Big Rapids, Michigan. Chambliss led the Bulldogs to a 14-1 record and the Division II national championship in 2024, throwing for 2,925 yards and 29 touchdowns with another 1,019 yards and 25 touchdowns rushing. Ferris State’s stadium, Top Taggart Field, has a listed capacity of 6,200. The official attendance at the Bulldogs’ 49-14 victory over Valdosta State in the national title game was 3,228.
When he stepped onto the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium Saturday as No. 13 Ole Miss’ (3-0, 2-0 SEC) starting quarterback in place of redshirt sophomore Austin Simmons, Chambliss was surrounded by more than 65,000 fans. But none of it seemed all that different to him.
Chambliss accounted for 415 yards of offense and three touchdowns in the Rebels’ 41-35 win over the Razorbacks, the most yards for an Ole Miss quarterback in his first start since Jordan Ta’amu in 2017. Simmons suffered an ankle injury late in the Rebels’ win at Kentucky last week and missed a drive, bringing Chambliss into the game. Simmons returned to the field for the final kneel-down.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said the Rebels made the decision to start Chambliss partly because of the desire to use quarterback runs in the offensive game plan and not risk further injury to Simmons. Simmons threw a touchdown against the Razorbacks following a hand injury that forced Chambliss to miss a few plays.
“Trinidad’s day didn’t surprise me,” Kiffin said. “Any time we’ve gone in the stadium in scrimmages or in his play the last two games, he’s done a fabulous job.”
Chambliss entered the transfer portal in April and committed to the Rebels five days later. Simmons, the highly touted Florida product and unquestioned starter heading into the season following the departure of Jaxson Dart, started the first two games of 2025 and had his ups and downs with three touchdowns passes and four interceptions. With Simmons’ injury, Chambliss said he took more first-team reps this week and that the two split the first-team reps on Friday.
Chambliss admitted he was a bit nervous before kickoff of his first start at the FBS level. He didn’t show any signs of nerves, though, completing 21 of 29 passes for 353 yards. He hit his first eight passes of the night.
“Yeah, it’s a little bit different than Ferris State. But football is football,” Chambliss said with a smile. “There’s 11 guys out there on offense, 11 guys on defense, and you just have to play ball.”
According to Kiffin, Chambliss just has “the ‘it,’” even if that exact concept is hard to put a finger on.
“That’s kind of a million-dollar question, what it’s comprised of. That’s why it’s called ‘it,’” Kiffin said. “It’s just a factor. And we saw it obviously in his game tape and then we saw it in scrimmages when we went in the stadium. And even as he was learning the offense and didn’t know everything, he just found a way to kind of have some magic about him. … He did it today.”
For Chambliss, the path from Big Rapids, Michigan to Oxford has been more than worth the journey. And it seems it was worthwhile for the Rebels to do their homework on the former Division II star, too.
“It’s a long time coming. Everyone’s journey and process is different,” Chambliss said. “I would just say work hard, follow God, listen to your parents, stay in school and just do the right things, and it’ll come to light. Do your job, do the right things and it’ll be OK.”
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