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NEW ORLEANS — A year ago, Trinidad Chambliss was preparing for a Division II national championship game. This week, he has a chance to lead his team to a College Football Playoff National Championship semifinal appearance, in what would certainly be an improbable next chapter for a player and a program that many never thought would realize such a moment.
The path has been remarkable, and the magnitude of the moment is unmatched. And through it all, Chambliss insists his approach and mindset has never changed.
“I would say complete focus,” Chambliss said.
“Just have that focus all game. It’s going to be loud. It’s going to be rowdy. Atmosphere is going to be crazy. We just have to focus on our plan and preparation.”
Trinidad Chambliss
That mindset has become a cornerstone for Chambliss and company as the Rebels navigate a postseason unlike any other, one shaped by a sudden and highly publicized coaching change, a first-round home playoff win over Tulane, and now a rematch with Georgia on college football’s biggest stage with a chance to advance to the semifinals on the line.
Respecting Georgia without flinching
Chambliss is under no illusion about what awaits him Saturday night. Georgia’s defense is as talented, physical, and deep as any unit in the country—something that’s impossible not to acknowledge.
“Yeah, it’s Georgia. They’re going to have huge guys. They’re going to have five stars; they’re going to have four stars that are hungry. Their defensive line is always stacked with dudes that can be in the NFL any given day.”
Trinidad Chambliss on the Georgia defense
Still, Chambliss emphasized that his team’s identity won’t be affected just because of the logo across the line of scrimmage.
“So we’re going to play our ball,” he said. “They’re coached by Kirby Smart and Coach [Glenn] Schumann on the defensive side, so they’re going to be well coached and locked in as well. So we have to be ready as well.”
The Rebels’ offense was stellar during their October trip to Athens for three quarters before going cold in the fourth, which ultimately cost them the game. Chambliss believes the lesson wasn’t about talent, but rather consistency.
“We just have to focus on our plan and preparation. And we’ve had a great week of prep, so we’re just ready.”
Trinidad Chambliss on facing Georgia
Perspective forged by an unlikely journey
Chambliss admitted there are moments when the hype and buzz surrounding his rise catches up to him.
“Yeah, it’s crazy to think where I was a year ago,” he said. “Playing in the D-II championship and now playing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana. It’s really cool to see where I am right now.”
Those reflections are brief, which isn’t unintentional.
“I try to take it day by day, week by week, game by game. But sometimes I have to sit down and be like, dang, you’re in the SEC competing with the best college athletes in all of the United States.”
Trinidad Chambliss
Then comes the reset.
“But I have to make sure the main thing is the main thing,” he said. “And that’s winning the football game.”
Adjusting amid uncertainty
Ole Miss’s postseason journey has unfolded against well-publicized and unprecedented change, with the team’s former coach departing for LSU a mere 48 hours after the regular season’s conclusion and effectively bailing on his team right before the biggest moment in program history. Chambliss acknowledged the disruption but made clear that it does not define the moment.
“It’s been a little different,” he said. “It’s going to be different when someone leaves the building and things are changing and we don’t know who the coach is going to be for the playoffs.”
But with time, that uncertainty faded.
“We’ve been in this process for two weeks now, and now it’s normal,” Chambliss said.
“We know it’s a football game. And it’s the same thing how we were preparing all season with regular season games, so we just have that same mindset.”
Trinidad Chambliss
Lessons from the first meeting — and the first playoff win
Ole Miss enters Saturday with two advantages it didn’t have in October: perspective and recent playoff experience.
“I feel like that was great for our team,” Chambliss said of the first Georgia matchup. “We were undefeated last time we played Georgia… really, we were the favorites. And that was really good; we lost.”
The loss, he said, became a lesson.
“A lot of things we needed to clean up in that game,” Chambliss said. “Watch the tape and learn from our mistakes in the past, and I think that’s going to help us in this game.”
The Rebels’ opening-round win over Tulane also served a purpose beyond advancement.
“It was probably three weeks since we had played,” Chambliss said. “The last was the Egg Bowl. So we were hungry to play a football game.”
While the performance wasn’t perfect, it restored rhythm.
“They were some things we weren’t clicking on, offensive-wise,” he said. “But I feel like it was good to get that game under Tulane and now transition into Georgia.”
Chambliss made clear that getting into a rhythm and pattern matters in the College Football Playoff.
“The more games you play, the more confident you get because you played another game and it’s recent,” he said. “You know what you did a week ago.”
From uncertainty to ownership
Chambliss’s season began with questions about role, opportunity, and fit.
“I didn’t really know what my role was going to be at the beginning of the season,” he said. “I knew Austin [Simmons] was their guy.”
The breakout star has always been ready for anything.
“Whether short-yardage running back, quarterback package… or if I was going to play a lot. I was going to put my best foot forward and locked in all the meetings and see where the chips fall.”
Trinidad Chambliss on his mindset when he transferred to Ole Miss
When Simmons was injured, those chips fell fast, and his moment arrived.
“Kentucky, the game was sealed at that point,” Chambliss said. “And Arkansas was my first start. And that was my true test really.”
From there, belief produced performance. Performance produced results.
“I ended up proving to myself that I could play in this league,” Chambliss said. “Beat LSU. That was crucial for me and our team.”
Along the way, he discovered more than just confidence in himself, but rather in the other young men around him.
“I grew more confident in the team and found out who I was as a person and a player,” he said.
Now, with Ole Miss standing one win away from having a one-in-four chance of bringing a championship to Oxford, Chambliss is effectively blocking out distractions regarding the future, whether those distractions come in the form of waiting to hear about a potential waiver for an extra year of eligibility or what might await in the transfer portal.
“That’s out of my control,” he said. “I’m focused on the game.”
For Ole Miss fans, that focus, enhanced by perspective, adversity, and opportunity, may be exactly what gives the Rebels their best chance to punch their tickets to Arizona for a date with either Ohio State or Miami.
Next Up
The Rebels will square off against Georgia on Thursday, January 1 at 7:00 p.m. in the 92nd edition of the Sugar Bowl for a chance to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals on ESPN.
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Jacob Quaglino
Jacob is a New Orleans, LA native and Ole Miss alumni, Class of 2024 and staff writer with The Rebel Walk. He has been a diehard fan of all Ole Miss sports his entire life, with his earliest Ole Miss sports memory being the Rebels' iconic 2008 upset of then-No. 4 Florida. Among his other favorite Rebel sports memories are storming the field after beating LSU in 2023 and Georgia in 2024, watching the Rebels upset Alabama in back to back years in 2014-15, seeing the women's golf team win the school's first-ever NCAA-recognized national championship in 2021, and watching the Rebel baseball team win the College World Series in 2022. He remains exceedingly hopeful that the Ole Miss Athletics Department's national championship trophy collection will grow in the coming years. Outside of The Rebel Walk, Jacob also works for a local radio news station and has many interests and hobbies, including reading, writing, watching college sports, playing pickleball, and traveling.
