Kirk Herbstreit isn’t treating the 2026 college football conversation like everyone else.
While the sport’s preseason buzz keeps circling Arch Manning, the longtime ESPN analyst used an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday to put a different name at the front of the line: Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
“The face of the sport going into the season, as much as people are going to talk about Arch Manning, I really think Trinidad Chambliss at Ole Miss, him getting that (extra) year, it looked like he might not get it, then they went down to Oxford, talked to a judge and everything got taken care of,” Herbstreit said.
He wasn’t done there. Herbstreit doubled down on Chambliss’ appeal with a little extra praise for the person behind the production.
“He is so, he is so refreshing when you get around this guy. You guys should have him on the show before the season starts. If you, if you haven't had him on yet, you'll instantly fall in love with his personality.”
That “everything got taken care of” line leaves out a messy five-month court fight that determined whether Chambliss would even be eligible for 2026. The NCAA turned down his request for a sixth year in early January, then upheld that decision in February. His legal team took the case to Mississippi state court, where Judge Robert Whitwell granted a preliminary injunction after ruling the NCAA ignored medical evidence from Chambliss’ 2022 season at Ferris State and acted in bad faith.
The battle didn’t end there. The NCAA submitted a 658-page appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court in March, but by late March the court rejected that appeal and Chambliss was cleared to play in 2026.
That ruling matters because of what Chambliss already did in his first season at Ole Miss. He threw for 3,937 yards, 22 touchdowns and only three interceptions, added 527 rushing yards and eight more touchdowns, won SEC newcomer of the year and finished eighth in the Heisman race while leading the Rebels to the College Football Playoff semifinals. And he did it without the benefit of a full offseason as the starter.
He could have walked away and entered the draft as a projected Day 2 pick. Instead, he chose to return.
At SEC Media Days in Tampa, Chambliss explained the decision plainly: "Coming back to Ole Miss, I feel like I wanted to stamp my legacy there," Chambliss said. "I feel like it was unfinished business."
Ole Miss now heads into a different-looking season around him. Lane Kiffin is gone to LSU, and he took staff and players with him. Pete Golding is in as head coach, and he helped keep Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy in place with a pitch centered on legacy, not money.
The schedule also gives Herbstreit’s take some immediate intrigue. The Rebels open against Louisville in Nashville on Sept. 6, then welcome Kiffin and LSU to Oxford on Sept. 19 for the coach’s first game against the program he left.
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Suntarine Perkins Could Define Ole Miss In A Brutal 2026 Race
Fall camp is arriving with Pete Golding entering his first full season in charge, and the attention around Ole Miss is already tilting toward the defense. The Rebels have built part of their offseason plan around reloading that side of the ball, mixing in transfer additions with returning starters as they try to give themselves a chance against a demanding schedule.
Suntarine Perkins sits right at the center of that conversation because Ole Miss knows it will need disruption, not just depth, to survive what is ahead. The Rebels are looking for a defense that can hold up against the run and still get after the quarterback, and if Perkins makes good on his potential, he could end up shaping how far this team goes in a season where every Sunday morning evaluation is likely to matter. [Read more 🡒]
Trinidad Chambliss Is Suddenly In The National Spotlight For Ole Miss
Ole Miss has spent plenty of time in the national conversation this season, but Trinidad Chambliss is the name getting pulled into a much bigger spotlight. On The Pat McAfee Show, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit went out of his way to say he does not view Texas quarterback Arch Manning as the face of college football in 2026, instead pointing to Chambliss as the more likely candidate because of the way he has played and carried himself.
Herbstreit still acknowledged Mannings talent and family pedigree, which only sharpened the point: there is room for the narrative to change if Chambliss keeps building on what he has already shown. For Ole Miss, that kind of attention is both flattering and fragile, because the national buzz around a quarterback can vanish as quickly as it arrives if the next stretch does not match the moment. [Read more 🡒]
Trinidad Chambliss Now Faces The Expectation Every Ole Miss Fan Feels
Trinidad Chambliss heads into the 2026 season with Ole Miss carrying a lot more than the usual quarterback duties. After a legal win cleared the way for him to return, the Rebels now have a signal-caller whose profile has surged well beyond Oxford, helped along by the kind of praise that turns a good offseason into a national conversation. With preseason buzz already pointing him toward the Heisman Trophy race, Chambliss is no longer just a key piece for Ole Miss, he is one of the biggest reasons the Rebels will be watched closely from the start.
Kirk Herbstreits recent praise only added to the spotlight around Chambliss, and the quarterback has acknowledged the pressure that comes with that level of attention. For Ole Miss, though, the larger question is the one Pete Golding keeps putting back at the center of the discussion: how Chambliss performs when the games matter most. The expectations are unmistakable now, but the season will still be defined by whether he can turn that hype into postseason results. [Read more 🡒]