Trinidad Chambliss is back on the Davey O’Brien radar, landing on the 2026 preseason watch list after a 2025 season that put him firmly in the national conversation.
The Ole Miss quarterback is one of 30 players selected and one of seven SEC quarterbacks on the list, the most from any conference. That alone says plenty about how crowded this race already looks.
Chambliss has the kind of résumé that earns this sort of recognition without much debate. He was a semifinalist in 2025, making him the sixth Ole Miss semifinalist in program history. Bo Wallace, Matt Corral, and Jaxson Dart - twice - are the others to reach that stage.
His breakout year in Oxford gave the Rebels exactly the kind of production the Davey O’Brien committee tends to notice. Chambliss threw for 3937 yards and 22 touchdowns while helping lead Ole Miss to a Playoff semifinal run. He also added 527 rushing yards and eight scores on the ground, giving his season the kind of dual-threat profile that stands out in award voting.
That production has already pushed him onto multiple preseason watch lists. Chambliss is also on the radar for the Walter Camp and Maxwell awards, and he has picked up first-team All-American nods from multiple outlets along with preseason All-SEC buzz.
The one thing Ole Miss still hasn’t done is bring home the award. Dart’s two semifinalist appearances are as close as the program has come, and if Chambliss were to win it, he would become the first Ole Miss quarterback in school history to take the Davey O’Brien.
The path won’t be easy. The SEC field alone is packed, with Arch Manning of Texas, John Mateer of Oklahoma, Byrum Brown of Auburn, Sam Leavitt of LSU, Gunner Stockton of Georgia, and Marcel Reed of Texas A&M also on the watch list.
And the challenge stretches well beyond the league. Julian Sayin of Ohio State and Dante Moore of Oregon are both on the list as preseason Heisman-caliber names from the Big Ten, which means Chambliss will need more than conference-wide respect to separate himself. Voters will be looking nationally, and several of the quarterbacks in this group are tied to offenses expected to lean heavily on the pass, the kind of setup that can inflate numbers fast.
Chambliss has the profile to belong in that mix. The question now is whether that complete season he put together in 2025 can carry all the way to the top in 2026.
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Is Testing A Roster Loophole Ole Miss Fans Know Well
A recent Louisiana ruling has opened an unusual path back into college football for certain players, including some who have spent time in NFL training camps, and it is already creating ripple effects around the sport. For Ole Miss fans, the situation will sound familiar: Lane Kiffin has never been shy about exploring roster rules, and this latest development again puts the transfer landscape and the eligibility maze under a bright light.
Dae'Quan Wright, a tight end who was previously with the Cleveland Browns, was waived and now has an agreement to play for LSU in 2026 if he clears waivers. The move came after contact between Kiffin and Browns coach Todd Monken, and it is expected to draw scrutiny from the NCAA and SEC, which could challenge or regulate the transfer as the broader question of how far this loophole can go starts to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss May Have Found A Secondary Chess Piece In Edwin Joseph
Edwin Joseph arrived at Ole Miss with the kind of background that makes a defensive staff lean in a little closer. The Florida State transfer has been used mostly at safety in preseason work, but the Rebels have also given him snaps at cornerback as they continue sorting through the pieces in the secondary. His past experience at multiple spots, including on offense, gives the staff a flexible option as it tries to find the right fit.
Josephs summer mattered, too, because he had to work back from a pre-existing injury before he could really show what he could add. Once he was healthy, he stood out enough in workouts to make the Rebels keep expanding his role, and that versatility is exactly why he remains one of the more interesting secondary pieces on the roster entering the season. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Pass Rush Has A Pressure Problem To Solve Fast
Ole Miss made a living last season on havoc up front, but the pass rush did not match that standard in 2025. The Rebels went from 52 sacks in 2024 to 33, and the drop came with a hit to the edge group as Princewill Umanmielen and DaShawn Womack moved on through the transfer portal. That leaves a defensive line that has to find a faster, more consistent way to affect quarterbacks if it wants to resemble the disruptive unit that made so much noise a year ago.
There is reason for optimism, though, because Ole Miss has not been standing still. The staff added new edge rushers through the portal and kept returning players in the fold, giving the unit a chance to rebuild its pressure package without starting from scratch. Coaches and players have talked up the depth and the potential for growth, but the real question is whether that mix can turn promise into production quickly enough to matter when the season starts. [Read more 🡒]