Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss seeks injunction in Mississippi court against NCAA

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss filed a motion Friday asking a Mississippi court to grant an injunction that could allow Chambliss to play in college during the 2026 season. Chambliss’ petition, filed in Lafayette County Chancery Court, argues that Chambliss should not have been denied a waiver last week that would have granted him an additional year of eligibility.

On January 9, the NCAA denied Chambliss’ request for a sixth year of eligibility. Chambliss redshirted as a freshman at Division II Ferris State in 2021 and spent the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons on the Michigan school’s roster before playing last season at Ole Miss. Chambliss had retained the services of attorney Tom Mars to manage his eligibility file with the NCAA. After the waiver was denied, Chambliss also retained a Mississippi-based attorney, William Liston III. Liston co-founded the Grove Collective, which provides NIL services to Ole Miss athletes.

The Chambliss case differs from most other NCAA eligibility actions in that it was filed in state court for contractual reasons rather than in federal court for antitrust reasons. The NCAA has had better success defending eligibility cases in federal court — the NCAA fares poorly in cases involving player compensation — so Chambliss’ team opted to try to gain some sort of home-field advantage by filing a suit in state court in Oxford, Mississippi, where Ole Miss is located. His lawyers argue that the NCAA applied its rules unevenly in Chambliss’ case, which they say represents a contractual breach between the NCAA and its member schools and third parties such as Chambliss.

The judge assigned to the case is Robert Whitwell, who holds a law degree from Ole Miss. Whitwell is also a former quarterback. He was captain of the Northwest Mississippi Community College team that won a state title in 1965. Whitwell later earned his undergraduate degree at Delta State.

The motion seeks a preliminary injunction that would prevent the NCAA from enforcing its eligibility ruling and asks a judge to make the injunction permanent. Such an injunction would likely allow Chambliss to play in 2026. Without such an injunction, he would have to move on to the NFL.

After redshirting in 2021 and not playing a game in 2023, Chambliss first saw the field for Ferries State in 2023. In 2024, Chambliss led Ferris State to a Division II national title. In 2025, Chambliss transferred to Ole Miss with a plan to back up Austin Simmons. But when Simmons was injured early in the season, Chambliss was forced into action. Chambliss ended up leading Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff semifinals, where the Rebels ultimately fell in the Fiesta Bowl to Miami. Chambliss threw for 3,937 yards and 22 touchdowns and ran for 527 yards and eight touchdowns.

Chambliss’ attorneys argue in the motion that Chambliss only competed in three seasons of college football, not four, because they argue a health issue hindered his ability to compete in 2022 as a redshirt freshman. The petition details that Chambliss has problems with enlarged tonsils following bouts of mononucleosis. He claims the airway obstruction caused by the disease bothered Chambliss for several years until he finally had his tonsils removed in December 2024.

The NCAA denied Chambliss’ appeal in part because Ferris State did not apply for a medical hardship waiver while it was experiencing the medical issues it said would have cost it the 2022 season. Typically, schools seek a hardship waiver after the season in which a player was incapacitated. For example, if a third-year football player who was already redshirting breaks his leg in the second game of a season, the player’s school usually requests a waiver after that season so that the player and the school know how much eligibility remains.

Chambliss’ lawyers argue in the motion that Chambliss did not then need to request a waiver. They also argue that Division II waiver rules — which differ from those of Division I — should have been applied to Chambliss since he played for a Division II school during the year in question. Medical records from 2022 were included in Chambliss’ petition to the NCAA.

“In 2022, and until Ole Miss’ request for an eligibility waiver from the NCAA in 2025, Trinidad could not foresee any need to obtain a medical opinion in 2022 regarding his medical and physical inability to participate in intercollegiate athletics,” Chambliss’ attorneys wrote in the petition.

An NCAA statement released after the waiver was denied claims Ferris State indicated it had “no documentation of medical treatment, injury reports or medical conditions involving the student-athlete during this time period and cited “the developmental needs and competitive circumstances of our team” as the reason the student-athlete did not play in the 2022-23 season.

Chambliss’ lawyers attacked that statement in their motion, citing a letter to the NCAA from Ferris State associate athletic director Sara Higley that included this passage: “The decision to redshirt Trinidad in 2022 was based on his developmental needs and the competitive circumstances of our team at that time. Trinidad also had some medical issues that arose during the 2022 fall season that could have played a role in the decision to give him a red shirt.”

The NCAA will now have to defend its decision in a Mississippi court. The governing body will likely try to argue that because it is a national organization with member schools in every state, federal court would be a more appropriate venue. Chambliss’ lawyers will fight to keep the case in Mississippi, where they hope local affection for Ole Miss and Chambliss and a lingering distrust of the NCAA based on past investigations into Ole Miss can tip any decision in Chambliss’ favor.