The Calm in the Chaos: Why Trinidad Chambliss Gives Ole Miss an Edge
OXFORD, Miss. — There are seasons you respect, seasons you enjoy, and then there are seasons that make you stop, rewind the tape, and appreciate just how rare what you’re watching really is. As a former quarterback, I don’t hand this out lightly. But what Trinidad Chambliss has done at QB1 in his first season at Ole Miss — after arriving from Division II, no less — belongs firmly in that last category.
Not only is his Rebels team 9-1 in his ten starts, but if not for the phenomenal season of Vanderbilt’s second-year transfer Diego Pavia, we’d have just witnessed the emergence of a young man from out of nowhere exploding onto the scene as the legitimate first-team All-SEC quarterback. As it is, Chambliss still took the league by storm and finished as the All-SEC Second-Team QB. Not bad for an athlete who was playing D-II this time last season.
This league is full of outstanding signal callers, many great athletes who for a good part of the season were often mentioned as Heisman candidates.
Before this year in Oxford, Trinidad’s only season to lead a college football team came at Ferris State last year, and what did he do? He led them to the D-II national championship. That’s a heck of an accomplishment.
One of my best coaching buddies, Richard Cundiff, coached at D-II Texas A&M-Kingsville (formerly Texas A&I) for years. They get athletes. They recruit. But in all my life, I’ve never seen anything that equals the performance I’ve watched this year from Chambliss.
You’ve seen the numbers, but throw out the numbers for a moment. Just watch No. 6 operate and you’ll see everything you need to know. Poise, confidence, exuberance, courage, the will to win, complete command of the scheme, and respect for his opponents and his teammates. He’s a winner. He has all of this in spades.
We forget how wide-eyed we all were as he traipsed into Athens and engineered five consecutive touchdown drives against the eventual SEC champions. It was unprecedented. Unimaginable! Ole Miss had the Bulldogs on the ropes with a 9-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
With Vandy and Pavia absent from the playoffs, Chambliss owns the highest total QBR of any SEC quarterback who is still playing. His 86.0 score is higher than Georgia’s Gunner Stockton (85.8), A&M’s Marcel Reed (77.9), Alabama’s Ty Simpson (76.7), and OU’s John Mateer (65.6).
Nationally, there are only two playoff quarterbacks currently sporting a higher QBR than Chambliss — and they were both in New York for the Heisman presentation. They are Big Ten quarterbacks Julian Sayin of No. 2 Ohio State (89.6) and top-seed Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza (88.4), just crowned the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner.
Joining them in New York was Vandy’s Diego Pavia (87.7). USC’s Jayden Maiava currently tops the QBR chart at 91.2 and is slated for a bowl game.
This puts Trinidad in excellent company after just one single regular season of D-I SEC quarterbacking. Not only does he rank Top 5 nationally in QBR, but he actually competed in “national playoffs” last season as Ferris State marched to the title. He knows what it means to lead a team in the playoffs. As head coach Pete Golding would say, regardless of the division, “ball is ball.”
Chambliss is one of only two quarterbacks in this year’s CFP who was in the playoffs last season — he and Gunner Stockton. Stockton quarterbacked Georgia’s 23-10 quarterfinals loss to Notre Dame.
Chambliss came home with the trophy. Advantage, Trinidad.
And that’s the part that shouldn’t be overlooked as Ole Miss steps into uncharted postseason territory: Trinidad Chambliss has already lived this moment. He understands what playoff football demands, how margins shrink, how pressure sharpens, and how leadership matters most when the lights are brightest. This isn’t a quarterback still learning how to win — it’s one who expects to. Whatever comes next, Ole Miss isn’t just riding a hot hand. The Rebels are being led by a proven finisher. And that matters more now than ever.
David Walker
David Walker was named Louisiana’s High School Player of the Year at just 16 years old and, at 17, became college football’s first quarterback to earn Freshman of the Year honors. He remains the NCAA’s youngest-ever starting quarterback, a distinction that has stood for decades.
Transitioning from a wide-open high school offense to Emory Bellard’s renowned wishbone triple option, Walker excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. He graduated as Texas A&M’s all-time winningest quarterback and served as a two-time team captain, helping to transform a program that had endured 15 losing seasons in the previous 16 years.
After his playing career, Walker coached and taught algebra at six Texas high schools before moving into private business. In 2011, he published his memoir, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good,” a title inspired by the coaching philosophy of Shannon Suarez, the Sulphur High and Louisiana High School Hall of Fame coach who was a significant influence on Walker’s life and career.
Walker’s compelling storytelling in his autobiography reflects the breadth of his experiences in high school and college football, and it is an undeniable fact that he saw more action than any athlete in the history of the NCAA. Since 2013, he has contributed to The Rebel Walk, sharing his insights and expertise with readers.
