A lawsuit has been filed by the legal team representing Trinidad Chambliss to grant the Ole Miss quarterback a sixth year of collegiate eligibility after he was initially denied one by the NCAA.
Prominent Oxford attorney William Liston, the founder of the Grove Collective, took to the Lafayette County Chancery Court on Chambliss’ behalf, seeking to obtain a preliminary injunction that would prevent the NCAA from prohibiting the star signal-caller from playing for the Rebels this upcoming season. Nationally renowned trial lawyer Tom Mars is also representing Chambliss.
In the suit, the legal team described the NCAA’s decision to deny Chambliss’ request as “arbitrary,” arguing that it was done in bad faith. Chambliss’ waiver sought a retroactive redshirt for the 2022 season when he reportedly dealt with an ongoing battle with respiratory issues that required him to get his tonsils removed. The NCAA, in its denial announcement, argued that Ole Miss and Ferris State did not submit sufficient evidence to prove that a medical condition sidelined him in 2022.
NCAA officials noted that rules only allow one redshirt year, which Chambliss used as a true freshman in 2021. However, his attorneys maintain that he only played three “countable” seasons and is entitled to one more campaign.
“Approval requires schools to submit medical documentation provided by a treating physician at the time of a student’s incapacitating injury or illness, which was not provided. The documents provided by Ole Miss and the student’s prior school include a physician’s note from a December 2022 visit, which stated the student-athlete was ‘doing very well’ since he was seen in August 2022,” an official statement from the NCAA reads.
“Additionally, the student-athlete’s prior school indicated it had no documentation on medical treatment, injury reports, or medical conditions involving the student-athlete during that time frame and cited ‘developmental needs and our team’s competitive circumstances’ as its reason the student-athlete did not play in the 2022-23 season.”
Attorneys representing Chambliss are pointing to a letter former Ferris State Associate AD for Sports Medicine Brett Knight authored this past November, when Ole Miss officials initially went to the NCAA in pursuit of landing the quarterback another year of college football. In the letter, Knight contended that Chambliss’ “chronic tonsilitis” rendered him incapable of participating in athletic activities, including practices and games.
“During the fall athletic and academic calendar of 2022, Trinidad Chambliss suffered from multiple conditions and illnesses that interfered with his ability to participate in athletic-related activities. Trinidad was seen in the athletic training room on several occasions due to ongoing complaints of illness,” Knight wrote.
“He was referred to a specialist ENT to further evaluate his chronic tonsillitis with breathing complications. During this time, the combination of acute and chronic illness impeded Trinidad’s ability to consistently engage in athletic activity, including weight training, conditioning, and football practice.”
Knight was not the only person to vouch for Chambliss. Both Ferris State head football coach Tony Annese and Dr. Anthony Howard, a licensed otolaryngologist who personally treated Chambliss in 2022, wrote letters backing the assertion that ongoing medical complications in 2022 prevented the quarterback from competing.
The judge overseeing Chambliss’ case is Senatobia native Robert Whitwell, an Ole Miss Law graduate and former Northwest Mississippi Community College quarterback. While Ole Miss went to the NCAA to appeal the waiver denial, Mars argued that getting the case to state court would offer a more level playing field.
The full lawsuit can be read below.
