Trinidad Chambliss is a legit 2027 NFL Draft prospect, with or without Lane Kiffin

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Trinidad Chambliss has had to prove it all his life.

Almost no one recruited him out of high school, and the coach who did, Ferris State’s Tony Annese, offered only after watching him play basketball. Lane Kiffin didn’t bring him in to help lead Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff last year so as much as he wanted competition for Austin Simmons. Chambliss, quite simply, is the guy who was never supposed to be here.

But he is here. And Saturday night in Oxford, Miss., when his former coach (Kiffin) brings his new team (LSU) and new quarterback (Sam Leavitt) to town, Chambliss will get another chance to prove he’s more than what you might think — more than a guy who’s too short; more than a one-hit wonder; more than a Kiffin creation.

As Chambliss braces for the biggest regular-season game of his young life, let’s dive into what makes the Ole Miss QB special. Why are his NFL chances better than you might think — and why might he remind you of former No. 1 pick Cam Ward?

After his spectacular Division II national championship year at Ferris State in 2024, Chambliss had interest from Western Kentucky, Marshall and Temple. As The Athletic’s Sam Khan Jr. reported this week, Temple was prepared in mid-April of ’25 to offer Chambliss $300,000 to secure his commitment.

Kiffin and Ole Miss, however, got to Chambliss first. The Rebels were the first then-Power 5 school to reach out.

Even though Kiffin has moved on to LSU, there’s no indication of any personal animosity (though Kiffin will face plenty of angry Ole Miss fans in Oxford). Chambliss has only expressed gratitude toward Kiffin for the opportunity; Kiffin tried to bring his QB with him to LSU, but Chambliss opted to stay put.

And Kiffin knows as well as anyone why Chambliss could be a huge problem for LSU on Saturday night.

The best quarterbacks are those with unteachable traits. Accuracy and technique can be learned, but instinct is usually inherent. The above clip, from Ole Miss’ Week 1 win over Louisville, highlights one of Chambliss’ superpowers: He’s an instinctive playmaker.

The anticipation shown, on a backside read no less, is exactly what you’re looking for. This throw came late in a back-and-forth game, against a sound opponent, and Chambliss made it look routine.

There’s a reason Annese decided to take a chance on Chambliss despite seeing him only on the basketball court. Chambliss played point guard, and point guards create on feel. They don’t panic in tight spaces, but rather see windows before they’re open and pour confidence into their teammates.

The average college QB probably never gets to the backside of that throw against Louisville. A good one gets there but probably pulls the ball down and runs as the seam route breaks open. An elite college starter, which Chambliss has proven himself to be, stands in there and delivers the type of courage throw that will make his teammates do anything for him.

Here’s a more impressive throw, from the same game, in a more pressure-packed situation. It came on the final drive, with Ole Miss trailing and facing third-and-long.

We can go back to last season’s Ole Miss Playoff win over Georgia or the semifinal battle with Miami — Chambliss almost always delivers in these spots.

This is near-perfect coverage, and only a perfect throw is going to find its way through, which is what Chambliss delivers. It’s not only an NFL throw in degree of difficulty, but in terms of pressure. Like a great point guard, Chambliss is a fearless quarterback. As far as college players go, he’s almost impossible to rattle and generally finishes games better than he started them.

There are obvious limitations, however. Chambliss is barely 6 feet (he might measure in at 5-11 inches and change this winter) and doesn’t weigh much over 200 pounds. And, while he’s very talented at it, scrambling is not going to be sustainable in the NFL. He’ll need a quality offensive line and run game to support him.

Chambliss also has to be more consistent with his eyes and in his ability to read coverages. He’s quick enough to be a terror in the pocket, and his ability to extend plays is one of his top traits, but there are still too many times when he is too quick to come off an open read.

Getting stuck on a read (or, on the flip side, scanning too fast) is something we see in most young quarterbacks. But most aren’t 6-0, 200. Chambliss won’t have much margin for error in the NFL, and this issue is absolutely something he can control. This characteristic can be doubly frustrating with Chambliss, too, because — as we saw on the above throw — he’s capable of much more.

We tend to see Chambliss glitch like this only when he’s not heavily pressured. Among FBS starters with at least 200 attempts last season, Chambliss ranked No. 1 in EPA/pressured attempt at .16; USC’s Jayden Maiava was No. 2, all the way down at .02. Among that same group of players, Chambliss ranked No. 2 in third-and-long conversion rate (trailing Fernando Mendoza), at a scorching 43.1 percent. Through two starts this season, Chambliss is again among the best nationally in EPA/pressure (.48).

There are concerns with Chambliss, to be sure, but he also might be the best pressure passer in the 2027 NFL Draft class.

An actual diamond in the rough doesn’t sparkle. It usually looks cloudy, sometimes like a pebble sitting with thousands of other bland pebbles. The sparkle emerges only when someone takes the time to examine the diamond and cut it open.

From an NFL Draft standpoint, Ward was the last great diamond in the rough — an unrecruited wing-T player who’d been hiding a million-dollar arm. There are a lot of million-dollar arms, though. What made Ward a true diamond was that, after barely getting a shoelace in the door at tiny Incarnate Word, he improved with a relentless consistency that became impossible to ignore. At Washington State and then at Miami, Ward improved literally every time he played.

It’s the same with Chambliss. He’s not as big as Ward and doesn’t have the same arm sizzle. But, just like Ward, he’s impossible to ignore.

Quarterbacks in Kiffin’s offense (which Ole Miss still runs) can be difficult to evaluate for NFL purposes. As was the case with former Ole Miss and current New York Giants QB Jaxson Dart, it’ll be important for scouts not to box in Chambliss as a system player. He is more than that.

And Saturday, against a familiar face, he’ll get another shot to show everyone why.