In the weeks after Trinidad Chambliss led Ferris State to a 14-1 season and a Division-II national championship, his quarterback trainer, Steve Calhoun, pitched Chambliss on an idea.
“I said, ‘I think you’ve accomplished everything you need to accomplish at that level,” Calhoun, who works with NFL quarterbacks like Jordan Love, said. ‘I would love to see your skillset at a higher level.’
“I truly believed he could play at a higher level.”
Chambliss wasn’t so sure. He thought he could do it. But leaving a good thing at Ferris State seemed like a risk. So, Calhoun offered to ask around.
It went well.
A few months later, Chambliss is half of an intriguing quarterback puzzle for Ole Miss ahead of a Top 25 showdown with LSU (2:30 p.m., ABC). Chambliss began the season as Austin Simmons’ backup. When Simmons suffered an ankle injury in a Week 2 win over Kentucky, Chambliss was forced into the lineup as the team’s starter. Sources told CBS Sports the expectation is that Chambliss will get the start when the Rebels take on the Tigers.
Chambliss led the Rebels to wins over Arkansas and Tulane in Simmons’ absence, emerging as one of the most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks in the country. He threw for 660 yards and three touchdowns in those games to go along with 174 yards and two scores on the ground. The Rebels are averaging 43 points a game with him as the starter, and he ranks seventh nationally in ESPN’s QBR metric.
It’s production that’s even taken those around Ole Miss by surprise. The Rebels thought they landed a high-level SEC backup when they nabbed Chambliss out of the portal. Instead, there may be a QB controversy brewing in Oxford even with Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin saying this week that Simmons “at 100% was our starting quarterback.”
Perhaps emphasis on the “was.”
“We didn’t know what he’d turn out to be,” an Ole Miss source said of Chambliss. “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.”
Incorrect and vexing to the team that would likely have landed him if not for Ole Miss’ last-minute push for Chambliss – the Temple Owls.
A Temple cornerstone
When Calhoun offered to ask around about Chambliss’ prospects of playing on a higher level, he figured it’d be easy. Tape is tape, after all, and Chambliss’ skillset was obvious after he threw for 2,925 yards with a five-to-one touchdown to interception ratio and ran for 1,019 yards on six yards per carry.
One problem – teams couldn’t always find the tape.
“They were like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to download ESPN+,” Calhoun said. “You can’t find it on YouTube. But once they saw it, it popped.”
Calhoun presented Chambliss and his family the feedback, and Chambliss decided to test the transfer waters on April 10. Once he officially popped up in the portal, Calhoun remembers getting bombarded with calls from area codes he didn’t recognize.
New Mexico, Utah, Temple, Western Kentucky and a few others were among the early movers. Some bigger programs were circling, too. Ohio State and Minnesota inquired but both programs were recruiting Chambliss as a backup. It’s why the Buckeyes backed off.
“We were in the market for a backup,” an Ohio State source said. “We didn’t really see him as that. We figured he was coming from D-II to play football.”
No program was more all-in on Chambliss than Temple.
The Owls, as part of their usual scouting process, evaluate a lot of potential portal players. Chambliss was among them, and he leapt off the screen. Said one Temple source of what they remember watching on film with Chambliss: “He would be a game changer. We were all in.”
Chambliss entered the portal on Thursday, April 10. The Owls offered within minutes of his name showing up in the database. They booked Chambliss and his family flights for a Monday official visit, two days after Ferris State’s national championship parade.
The Owls felt good. They allotted $300,000 for Chambliss, a monumental sum for a Group of Six starting quarterback. Chambliss was going to be the foundational piece of K.C. Keeler’s Temple rebuild, a perfect fit for new offensive coordinator Tyler Walker’s run-heavy QB scheme.
But that’s the thing about the portal: nothing is done until it’s done.
A late suitor
Ole Miss had a horrible time trying to find a backup in the transfer market. They swung and missed on several experienced arms because most could see what was obvious — Simmons was going to be QB1 in 2025.
Then Ole Miss saw Chambliss go into the portal. It was just a headline then — Division II national champion QB enters. But good scouting departments watch everyone. And, as another source described it to CBS, “It was a, ‘Oh, I wasn’t familiar with your game’ moment.’
Temple had the visit scheduled for Monday, so the Rebels convinced Chambliss to visit Saturday in the hours after the parade. The Owls found out when an Ole Miss staffer called them to help set up a flight change for Chambliss and his family as the flight to Philadelphia would now come from Mississippi.
It never got to that point.
Temple got a call from Chambliss on Sunday. He’d committed to the Rebels.
Ole Miss’ contract offer was at least double Temple’s, per a source, as the going rate for a quality Power Four backup quarterback is $500,000-plus. There was an awareness in Chambliss’ camp that Simmons had the inside position for the starting job. But the Rebels sold Chambliss on the opportunity to compete.
“The family believed and loved what they heard,” Calhoun said. “To play in the SEC, play for Coach Kiffin and (offensive coordinator Charlie) Weis, two innovative offensive minds that fit Trinidad’s skillset, it was pretty much a no-brainer.”
It was pretty much heartbreak for Temple.
The Owls were ready to give Chambliss the presidential treatment on campus. They’d recorded videos with Joe Flacco and ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi to welcome him. It was all for naught.
“We knew what he was,” the Temple source said. “He was going to completely change our program. Ole Miss just sniped us.”
Calhoun has worked with first-round draft picks like Love and mid-round success stories like Russell Wilson and Nick Foles. But he’s never had a quarterback go from the D-II level to potential NFL prospect like Chambliss.
Division II to FBS success stories do happen. Austin Reed went from D-II West Florida to the nation’s leading passer during the 2022 season with Western Kentucky. But you almost never see a D-II player jump up to the Power Four level with the confidence to battle with someone like Simmons, who’d long been considered Jaxson Dart’s heir apparent in Oxford.
But Chambliss bet on himself.
Now, the senior could make things very difficult on Kiffin once Simmons is 100%. It’s a question many in college football are asking this week: can you really bench someone playing as well as Chambliss?
We’ll find out soon once Simmons is 100% healthy. Yet Chambliss’ story might not be done even if he goes back to the bench.
Yes, he’s a senior. But Chabmliss only played in two games as a freshman in 2022. Division II football didn’t establish a redshirt rule until this year, so Chambliss doesn’t technically have another year to use. He can, however, submit a waiver request to the NCAA for another season. Or, as Calhoun joked, he could just hire Diego Pavia as his lawyer.
Either way, Chambliss bet big on himself going from Ferris State to the SEC.
It’s paying off.
“He really believes in his skill set and him as a player and a quarterback,” Calhoun said. “He feels he is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. If you’re not thinking that way, then something’s wrong.”
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