The Mississippi State Supreme Court denied the NCAA’s appeal of the Trinidad Chambliss eligibility lawsuit. The Ole Miss quarterback remains eligible for the 2026 season.

Josiah D. Coleman, the presiding justice, issued the ruling Friday. It’s another key legal win for Chambliss, who was seeking to get another year of eligibility after the NCAA denied his waiver. He was granted a preliminary injunction last month, paving the way for him to play for the Rebels this coming season.

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“After due consideration, we find that the petition should be denied,” Coleman’s order states. “It is, therefore, ordered that the petition is denied. So ordered.”

The NCAA filed its appeal March 5, three weeks after Calhoun County Chancery Court judge Robert Whitwell granted Chambliss’ preliminary injunction. After the filing, Chambliss’ attorney Tom Mars referenced a prior case against the NCAA in a statement and said the association would be “spitting chiclets” following the latest appeal.

“Everyone remembers when the NCAA famously appealed to the Supreme Court in the Alston case and got their teeth knocked out by Justice Kavanaugh,” Mars said. “I expect the NCAA to be spitting chiclets in this appeal as well.”

During the legal saga, though, Chambliss said the situation cost him an opportunity to potentially appear on the cover of EA Sports College Football 27. In a March 12 filing, he said earlier this month, as recently as March 6, he was one of three college football players in discussions to appear on the next installment of EA Sports College Football. In fact, his lawyers hinted he might have been the top choice to grace the cover.

However, according to the filing, EA Sports withdrew from the talks roughly three days later due to potential “risk” that Trinidad Chambliss would not be able to play for Ole Miss in 2026. His attorneys cited the NCAA’s decision to deny Chambliss’ waiver as a reason talks stopped.

“On or about March 9, 2026, EA Sports withdrew from negotiations with Trinidad, explaining in a text message that EA Sports’ leadership ‘just can’t stomach the risk’ that Trinidad may be unable to play college football during the 2026-27 football season,” the filing states. “The risk, as perceived by EA Sports, arises from the NCAA’s bad faith denial of Ole Miss’s request for an extension of eligibility waiver for Trinidad and from the NCAA’s continued opposition to Trinidad’s eligibility, including filing of the NCAA’s meritless and specious Interlocutory Petition.”