Florida's Jon Sumrall Says He'd Vote for Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss for Heisman, Even After 52-28 Blowout Loss

Trinidad Chambliss had one of the stranger two-week stretches in recent Heisman Trophy history. First he torched Lane Kiffin's LSU defense in a signature win. Then his own team got run off the field by Florida.

On Saturday, September 19, Chambliss led Ole Miss to a 32-24 upset of LSU, going 33 of 48 for 363 yards and three total touchdowns against a defense that had allowed just two touchdowns through its first two games, according to Heavy. The win doubled as a grudge match against Kiffin, who left Ole Miss for LSU less than a year earlier under circumstances Heavy described as leaving "devastation in his wake."

The betting markets reacted fast. According to Field Level Media, distributed by WTVB-AM, BetMGM had Chambliss at +1300 the week before the LSU game. After it, he shrank to +325, tied with Miami quarterback Darian Mensah for the shortest odds in the country. DraftKings had a similar move, putting Chambliss at +310 with Mensah just behind at +370. Heavy's separate accounting of DraftKings numbers had Chambliss slightly better, at +295, with Mensah at +340 and a 24%-to-23% edge in projected vote share. The exact numbers differ slightly by book and by the moment each was pulled, but the direction is the same: Chambliss went from afterthought to co-favorite in a single Saturday night.

Behind him, according to both WTVB-AM and the Irish Star, sat a crowded field: Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith and Miami receiver Malachi Toney at +1000 to +1100, preseason favorites Arch Manning of Texas and CJ Carr of Notre Dame sliding back to the +1000 to +1500 range, and Mississippi State's Kamario Taylor rocketing from a +15000 longshot to +1000 after throwing for 832 yards and 11 touchdowns through Mississippi State's 3-0 start.

Then came Week 5. Ole Miss and Florida entered Saturday, September 26 both undefeated, and Florida embarrassed the Rebels 52-28, according to Newsweek. The game, Newsweek reported, "never felt close." That result raises real questions about whether Ole Miss is a genuine College Football Playoff contender or whether the LSU win was closer to a one-off.

Florida's head coach Jon Sumrall told Chambliss directly after the game, per Newsweek: "I don't have a Heisman vote, but if I did, you'd have it." This came from the coach whose defense just hung 52 points and forced Ole Miss into a blowout loss.

Chambliss's underlying numbers support the case Sumrall was making. Through his first four games in 2026, Chambliss has thrown for 1,222 yards and eight touchdowns against three interceptions, completing 70.8% of his passes, and added 108 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns on the ground, according to Newsweek. That's a step up in efficiency from his breakout 2025 campaign, when he threw for 3,937 yards and 22 touchdowns with just three interceptions at a 66.1% clip, plus 527 rushing yards and eight rushing scores, earning second-team All-SEC honors, SEC Newcomer of the Year, and an eighth-place finish in the 2025 Heisman voting.

Chambliss's path to Oxford is itself part of the story. He transferred to Ole Miss from Division II program Ferris State, and the NCAA fought to keep him from getting an additional year of eligibility for 2026. According to WTVB-AM, the Mississippi Supreme Court denied the NCAA's petition to appeal an earlier state court ruling in March 2026, clearing Chambliss to play this season. No Ole Miss player, not Jake Gibbs, not Archie Manning, not Eli Manning, has ever won the Heisman. All three finished third, per Heavy.

One outlet in the mix, Press Bee, simply republished Newsweek's account of the Sumrall comments without adding independent reporting or new figures, so its version carries no additional weight beyond confirming the same quote circulated widely.

The most recent odds available, tied to the LSU game, still had Chambliss atop or near the top of the market. Whether Heisman bettors and, eventually, actual voters treat a 24-point loss to a good Florida team as a red flag or a forgivable outlier will likely show up in the next round of published odds and in how Chambliss performs over Ole Miss's remaining SEC schedule.