NCAA denies Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss has sixth-year eligibility appeal, as court hearing looms

The fight between the NCAA and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is officially going to the courts.

The NCAA denied Chambliss' appeal for a sixth-year eligibility waiver on Wednesday, Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reports. That leaves Chambliss with only one avenue to one more year in college football: his lawsuit against the NCAA, which has a hearing for a preliminary injunction scheduled for Feb. 12.

The NCAA had previously denied Chambliss' request for a sixth year in January. The player's case rests on medical documentation from his time at Ferris State, as he redshirted his freshman year in 2021 then missed the entire 2022 season while dealing with respiratory issues, which were eventually resolved with surgery to remove his tonsils.

An alleged lack of documentation led to the NCAA denying Chambliss' request:

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. 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.

The Chambliss camp has responded with more documentation of his illness in 2022, but a fourth meeting of the NCAA Academics and Eligibility Committee resulted in a finding that the documents were not sufficient, per Dellenger.

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The dispute will now turn to Lafayette County Chancery Court, where Chambliss is seeking an injunction in his hearing next week. The NCAA has responded to his lawsuit by essentially arguing it should still have control over these decisions rather than the court and Chambliss can't prove it's not acting out of good faith.

The decision is a significant one for Chambliss, as he is set to receive more than $5 million via a revenue-share contract with Ole Miss, if he can play next season.