Arch Manning may still be the name that drives the loudest buzz in the SEC, but Jordan Rodgers is looking somewhere else for the best quarterback in college football entering 2026.
On a recent edition of ESPN's "Get Up," the former Vanderbilt quarterback and current ESPN analyst said his top choice is Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, not the Texas star who was expected to take a major leap after taking over for Quinn Ewers.
"Arch was the best quarterback at the end of the regular season, but the best quarterback in the College Football Playoff and the best quarterback going into this season, in my opinion, is Trinidad Chambliss," Rodgers said.
Rodgers backed up that view by pointing to what Chambliss did on the biggest stage.
"What he did in that Playoff, he was the best player; 362 yards against Georgia, he almost single-handedly beat Miami to advance to the national championship. He might've been a first-round pick if he had chosen to come out."
That kind of rise has been Chambliss' calling card. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound quarterback arrived at Ole Miss from Division II Ferris State in the 2025 offseason after piling up 3,279 passing yards, 31 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 1,323 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns over the previous two seasons.
He wasted no time making an impact in Oxford. Chambliss stepped in as the starter over Austin Simmons against Arkansas and never looked out of place. By the end of the season, he had put together an All-SEC Second Team year with 3,937 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and only three interceptions, plus 527 rushing yards and eight rushing scores.
For Ole Miss, the appeal is obvious: Chambliss has shown he can walk into a new setting and produce immediately. He did it once already in 2025, and the Rebels will be counting on that same spark again in 2026.
There is some stability around him. Doak Walker Award finalist Kewan Lacy, the interior of the offensive line and wide receiver Deuce Alexander are all back as proven pieces.
But the roster is not without turnover. Ole Miss will have two new starters at offensive tackle and two new starters at wide receiver, and former East Carolina offensive coordinator John David Baker is stepping in as the playcaller after Charlie Weis Jr.'s departure.
Meanwhile, Texas enters 2026 with Manning still carrying the weight of the breakout expectations that followed a 2025 season in which the Longhorns finished 7-1 over their final eight games but still missed the College Football Playoff. Manning closed the year with 3,163 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes and seven interceptions, plus 399 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
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