Chambliss Leads Ole Miss into Historic Playoff Weekend: ‘We’ve Proved a Lot of People Wrong This Year’
OXFORD, Miss. — As Ole Miss gears up for the school’s first-ever playoff game coming this Saturday against Tulane, Rebels’ quarterback Trinidad Chambliss talked with media ahead of the history-making weekend, discussing the status of his waiver and future, the playoffs, the new coaching staff and more.
Waiver Status
Back in November, Chambliss applied for a waiver for an extra year of eligibility stemming from his time at Ferris State. He was asked Monday if he had yet heard anything back from the application waiver and how confident he is in its outcome. He explained he has not heard anything back; however, he expects answer this week.
The signal caller was queried about his confidence level for receiving the waiver.
“Yeah. I have trust in Jesus Christ that the waiver is approved. So yeah, I have faith,” he replied.
Trinidad discussed how important this waiver is to him and what it would mean for his future.
“I feel like it would be great for another year to develop in college football. I obviously was playing D2 ball a lot of my college career. So, you know, transitioning to the NFL, playing in another conference like the SEC would benefit me for the next level. And it is kind of tough. It’s been kind of stressing me out recently, but, you know, I just got to put it in God’s parking lot really.“
Chambliss on what a waiver would mean for him
He was asked if he has heard from anyone in the NFL; however, he made it clear his attention is on the playoffs.
“I have people that are connected with the NFL and have been talking to some NFL teams and GMs,” Chambliss said, “but my focus right now is obviously the playoff and when that time gets there, if the waiver gets approved or denied, then we can move forward on whether or not what I’m doing.”
Trinidad was asked hypothetically if he did receive the waiver, would he stay at the college level at Ole Miss or would he have to consider everything before making a decision on his future.
“Definitely. You hit it right on the nail. I would have to consider what the best situation is for me — what I feel most comfortable with, who I trust the most, and just get a feel for every possibility really. So, there’s a lot that goes into that.”
Chambliss on his thought process for next season
Preparing for Playoffs
The Rebels will take on the Tulane Green Wave Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway. Chambliss talked about having had a little time off but getting back to focusing on football.
“Watching the conference championship games, I was like, ‘dang, we should be playing in the SEC Championship,'” Chambliss said. “I wanted to play football that weekend. You know, you want to play football as much as you can. You want to rest your bodies as well, but I’m a competitor. I always want to play football. So, it’s good that we’re playing this weekend.”
He talked about how Tulane’s defense has evolved over the season, giving credit to the team and its head coach, Jon Sumrall.
“Yeah, Tulane, they were never a bad team. We just got the better of them,” he began. “They didn’t really play that well the first time around and we played really good. And they’re just a tough team, really physical on defense…Coach Sumrall is a defensive coach, so I know the defense will be ready. Their quarterback is pretty good as well. So, they’re rolling right now. They just won their conference, so we’ve just got to expect them to be at their best.”
Chambliss also talked about the difficulty of preparing for the same team twice.
“Playing a team twice, it’s kind of hard to prepare for them the second time just because you don’t expect some of the stuff that happened in the first game because they’re going to watch that tape and correct what they did and we’re going to do the same. So we’ve just been watching the previous games that they’ve been playing versus North Texas and just kind of seeing what they’ve been doing and what’s been working for them down the stretch of the season. So, just prepare for them as normal as we can.“
Chambliss on preparing to play the same team twice
Coaching staff
Last week, the Rebels announced John David Baker would be returning to Ole Miss to join Pete Golding’s offensive staff as offensive coordinator. Baker previously worked for the Rebels from 2021-2023 as the tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator, but after two seasons at East Carolina University, he is back in Oxford.
“I met with him when he got here on campus and it was a great conversation just trying to get to know each other,” Chambliss said of Coach Baker.
“He was saying that the offense that he does is very similar to the one that we do here. So that was good, good to hear and then, yeah, we were just talking like regular dudes trying to get to know each other. We’ll probably get dinner, grab some food and go further on that conversation. So that’s great,” Chambliss added.
The QB was asked what the past couple of weeks have been like under the new leadership of Coach Golding. He offered a brief comparison of the new head coach and the former.
“Yeah, PG (Pete Golding) and Coach Kiffin, two totally different dudes,” Chambliss noted. “Coach Kiffin was kind of more quieter, more soft toned. PG is kind of more rough, very emotionally talks to the team.”
Chambliss relayed how Coach Golding is keeping the same schedule and practice format the team has been used to.
“PG’s done a great job. Not a lot is different with how our schedule has been and how our practices are. So, that’s kind of good that we’re on the same track of how we’ve been the whole season, but yeah, PG is very emotional and he’s a player’s coach, to be honest. So that’s been great.“
Chambliss on Pete Golding
Personal Reflection
This past weekend, the Heisman Trophy ceremony took place in New York. Although he was not invited to attend, the Rebels’ quarterback placed 8th in the voting — even receiving two first place votes in the process.
“Yeah, that was sweet to see two first place votes,” Chambliss noted. “I didn’t even know that I got two first place votes, which was dope…But, yeah, that was really cool to see.”
Chambliss has talent for making tight throws with great confidence, and he offered up an evaluation of his passing game.
“As a quarterback, I feel like you can’t have any indecision on when you’re throwing the ball. There’s going to be tight coverage, there’s going to be loose coverage, but whatever decision you make, you just got to go with it. Whether that’s tight coverage or not, back shoulder, or I got to slip it in cover two versus a whole shot. But I always have trust in my receivers to make the play.”
Chambliss on his passing game
Chambliss was asked about his transition from Ferris State to Ole Miss, where he would go from starting at the D2 level to being a backup on the D1 level in Oxford. He talked about the competitive nature around the QB1 spot, regardless of where one plays.
“Yeah, it definitely was kind of different. But when I was at Ferris, I spent the majority of my time there like the backup and I was always competing for playing time. So me coming here off a season of me being the starter and having a great year was definitely kind of different at first,” Chambliss commented.
“Wherever I was going to go, whether it was Ole Miss or anywhere else, I knew I was going to have to compete with the other quarterbacks in the room. So, I just couldn’t really focus on that or kind of get mad at, ‘hey, why is this quarterback here? Why is he there?’ but just put my best foot forward and put myself in the best position possible to be successful and to just focus on myself. So, it was a little hard at first, but I just got to do my best.”
Chambliss on his mentality
And do his best, he did. Chambliss notched a stellar regular season as the quarterback for the Rebels, recording 3,316 passing yards, 470 rushing yards, and 24 total touchdowns. Yet, he did have a few critiques of his game looking back.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot of good things and made a lot of good plays, but there’s a lot that I need to clean up as a quarterback. Being in the SEC, it’s very tough transitioning from D2 to D1, but that’s no excuse. I signed up to play here. I knew what was going to come, and I knew what we were going to face this season. There’s a lot that I need to clean up, whether it’s deep ball accuracy, just communication with some of the the offensive linemen and the running back and just executing when the time matters. So there’s a lot of things I still need to clean up still.“
Chambliss reflecting on his season and performance
Faith
If you have followed Trinidad Chambliss for any time at all, you know he has a passion for his faith in Jesus Christ. He prays with his mother before every game and has always been very open about his trust in God. On Tuesday in the press conference, he was asked how faith affects the whole team.
“Before the season, there was a lot of doubt in this team,” Chambliss said, thoughtfully. “A lot of people thought that we would be like a mid-tier team in the SEC and we’ve proved a lot of people wrong this year. And there’s a lot of guys that have faith and whether you believe in this type of religion or not, there’s a lot of guys that have faith in who they believe in.”
Chambliss went on to expound more on the importance of Jesus in his life.
“And I mean with Jesus Christ, there’s really nothing that we can’t do. We just have all our faith and trust in Him and a lot of the guys lean on Him, too. So that’s what really makes Old Miss special, and I appreciate that being here because that’s a big part of my life as well. It’s great to see guys follow that, too, in the season because there’s going to be bumps in the road. There’s going to be adversity when you play a long season and just in football in general too. So it’s great to see that (faith).“
Trinidad Chambliss
Next Up: Playoff football in Oxford
The No. 6-ranked Ole Miss Rebels take on the No. 11 Tulane Green Wave in round one of the College Football Playoffs in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium Saturday, December 20th at 2:30p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on TNT and HBO Max.
(Feature image credit: Daylan Flowers, The Rebel Walk)
Parks Burcham
Parks Burcham is a sophomore at the University of Mississippi. He is majoring in Journalism, emphasis in Sports Media, with a minor in Sports Management. He is originally from Booneville, Mississippi and graduated high school from Jumpertown Attendance Center.His favorite sports are basketball and football. He chose this path because he has always been extremely interested in the sports world. Parks enjoys all aspects of the game and hopes to do great work in this field.
