The Athletic has live coverage of Tulane vs. Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff first round.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in October and has been updated ahead of Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff game against Tulane.
A few days after leading Ferris State to its third Division II national championship in four years, Tony Annese was on his way to Tampa to watch Michigan practice before the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama.
Annese’s phone rang. It was the family of Trinidad Chambliss, Ferris State’s star quarterback, calling to say Chambliss was receiving offers to enter the transfer portal.
“I was like, ‘Technically speaking, that’s tampering, but maybe you should test the waters,’” Annese said.
Chambliss was reluctant. He’d gone to Ferris State, a Division II power in Big Rapids, Mich., as a 170-pound quarterback recruit with no FBS offers. He waited his turn, backing up two other quarterbacks during the Bulldogs’ championship seasons in 2021 and 2022. The opportunity to play Division I football was a dream, but his heart was at Ferris State.
In late December, Chambliss made up his mind. He was staying.
“January, February passed,” Annese said. “Around March, people were starting to hound him. To me, there’s always a certain level of money that might be life-changing. I just said to him, ‘If people are going to give you a lot of money, maybe you need to see what they’re going to give you and get in the portal.’ And the rest is history.”
Chambliss ended up becoming one of college football’s surprise breakout stars of 2025. After stepping in for the injured Austin Simmons against Arkansas on Sept. 13, he led Ole Miss to an 11-1 record and No. 6 seed in the College Football Playoff, where the Rebels will host Tulane in the first round.
A second-team All-SEC pick who finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy vote, Chambliss passed for 3,016 yards, 18 touchdowns and three interceptions and rushed for 470 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season. Fans in Oxford have taken up the banner by waving flags of Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island nation in the Caribbean.
Chambliss has become such a phenomenon that a reporter from Trinidad and Tobago joined an October conference call to ask about his connection to the Caribbean. He doesn’t have one — or he didn’t, until recently — but his breakout season has been good for international relations.
“I drive downtown near the square and see some of the flags from the houses and whatnot. It’s just cool,” Chambliss said. “I’m sure a lot of people from Trinidad are wondering why so many flags are being ordered to Oxford, Mississippi.”
Chambliss said his name was inspired by the Holy Trinity, not by any family connection to the country. Though that’s true, there is another part to the story. His parents, Trent and Cheryl, had an agreement: If their child were a girl, they would go with Cheryl’s preferred name, Trinity. If their child were a boy, Trent would get to choose. Trent liked the connection to the Trinity, and he also happened to be a fan of the boxer Félix Trinidad.
“I kind of took a liking to that name,” Trent Chambliss said. “It does have that spiritual connection, the Holy Trinity. It stood by itself, a pretty strong name. I just figured that was a good fit.”
The name captures a duality that makes Chambliss who he is. He’s grateful for the providential path that took him from playing road games in front of 500 fans to beating LSU in front of nearly 68,000 in Oxford, plus millions watching on TV. He’s also a fighter who can punch above his weight class.
“Fate kind of gave him an opportunity,” said Eddie Ostipow, who coached Chambliss at Forest Hills Northern High School in Grand Rapids. “We all know how talented he is. He’s gotten an opportunity and really ran with it.”
Chambliss was entering his junior season when Ostipow got the job at Forest Hills Northern. He’d shared time at quarterback the previous season but was known mostly for his exploits on the basketball court, where he was a star point guard.
The perception at the time was that Chambliss would play basketball in college. He grew up attending basketball camps and playing in tournaments around the country, which meant he didn’t get as much exposure as a football recruit. When he got the chance to be a full-time quarterback, he flourished. He had a natural throwing motion and easy mechanics, Ostipow said, but his best trait was the vision to anticipate plays that other quarterbacks couldn’t see.
“As a quarterback, you have to distribute the ball, find zones in the defense, find matchups and take your matchups with wide receivers throwing down the field,” Chambliss said. “In basketball, as a point guard, that’s basically the same thing.”
Ostipow saw Chambliss as a Division I prospect, but the nearby Mid-American Conference programs didn’t see him the same way. At 6 feet and 170 pounds, he didn’t have the size that bigger schools wanted in a point guard or a quarterback. But he was a perfect fit for Ferris State, a program known for developing athletic quarterbacks.
Annese, 64, has a 152-21 record in 13 seasons at Ferris State, including a 15-0 mark this year with a spot in the D-II national title game on Saturday. He’s made a Hall of Fame career out of developing overlooked recruits, including Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler, a seventh-round pick in 2018 who signed a $64 million contract extension in August.
It speaks to the depth at Ferris State that Chambliss, a player torching SEC defenses, didn’t become a full-time starter until his fourth year on a D-II campus. The Bulldogs had other quarterbacks in front of him, and he needed time to add about 30 pounds to fill out his point guard’s frame. When he got his chance to start in 2024, he exploded for 51 touchdowns, nearly 3,000 passing yards and more than 1,000 yards on the ground while leading Ferris State to a 14-1 season.
Chambliss also caught the eye of quarterback-hungry teams in the FBS. He wasn’t looking to leave Ferris State, but name, image and likeness offers were difficult to ignore.
“It’s every child’s dream to be able to play at the Division I level,” said Trent Chambliss, an assistant principal at Wyoming High School near Grand Rapids. “With NIL, you end up having that dangling carrot, a large sum of money. It kind of moves people. You’ve got to be strong enough to not move on the emotional charge that you may get.”
Chambliss initially decided not to enter the transfer portal and spent the spring at Ferris State. When programs started calling him again in March, he decided he owed it to himself and his family to listen. Annese gave his blessing and apprised him of the risks and benefits of transferring.
Trinidad Chambliss led Ferris State to the D-II national title last year. (Adam Vander Kooy / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Transferring to a bigger school could mean exposure and development for the NFL, along with the not-insignificant money available through NIL and revenue sharing. Though the amount Chambliss is being paid is undisclosed, CBS Sports reported that Chambliss’ deal with Ole Miss is believed to be more than $500,000, a number The Athletic confirmed with a person familiar with his transfer recruitment.
This risk of leaving was that Chambliss would be giving up a chance at the Harlon Hill Trophy, the Heisman of Division II, with no guarantees of seeing the field. When Chambliss visited Ole Miss, coaches made it clear that he’d be coming in behind Simmons, a four-star recruit who was the Rebels’ backup quarterback last season behind New York Giants rookie Jaxson Dart. Chambliss decided to bet on himself, knowing there was a chance he wouldn’t see the field.
“There’s a risk that you don’t get enough playing time to be seen by the NFL,” Annese said. “That was my concern for him. If Austin Simmons didn’t get hurt, how was it going to be?”
Ferris State lost eight starters from last year’s team who transferred to Division I programs. The list includes Bryce George and Lawrence Hattar, reserve offensive linemen at Iowa and Michigan, respectively, and running back Kannon Katzer, who has yet to record a carry at West Virginia.
Annese said he’s happy for the transfers who have carved out roles and sad for the ones who aren’t playing. Heading into the season, it wasn’t clear which category would apply to Chambliss. Even with Chambliss throwing for more than 300 yards in wins against Arkansas, Tulane and LSU, there was a question of what Ole Miss would do once Simmons got healthy.
That question took on more weight after the Rebels had a close call against Washington State in a 24-21 win. Chambliss threw for 209 yards but struggled to get the offense in gear, prompting a blunt pep talk from coach Lane Kiffin.
“Let’s not go back to that Division II stuff,” Kiffin told him, as he recounted to ESPN at halftime.
But Chambliss held on to the job as he became a viral sensation. The legend will only grow if he takes Ole Miss on a Playoff run after Kiffin’s departure for LSU.
The decision to leave Ferris State wasn’t easy, but it’s earned Chambliss a fan following that stretches from West Michigan to Oxford, Miss. — and even as far as the Caribbean.
“I get so many texts and calls from back home from my friends, people I’ve grown up with, people that supported me before I even got to Ole Miss,” Chambliss said. “It’s just good to have a community behind you while you’re chasing one of your dreams.”
— The Athletic’s Sam Khan Jr. contributed to this report.
