Ole Miss has a 6,000-yard backfield act back for more
Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy return after a rare 6,216-yard season as Ole Miss starts a joint Heisman push.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Ole Miss is bringing back the most productive returning quarterback-running back pairing in college football, and the Rebels are already putting their names on the campaign trail.
Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy combined for 6,216 yards in 2025, according to CBS Sports, placing them eighth among FBS quarterback-running back duos to top 6,000 total yards in a season since 2000.
The bigger wrinkle: both players are back in Oxford for 2026. CBS Sports reported that this is only the third time this century that an FBS quarterback and running back have returned to the same school after crossing the 6,000-yard mark together the previous year.
The last pair to do it in back-to-back seasons was Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and Wayne Gallman, who followed a 6,949-yard 2015 season with 6,507 yards in 2016. Clemson won the national title that season, its first since 1981.
Ole Miss starts the Heisman push early
Ole Miss has launched a shared Heisman campaign for Chambliss and Lacy, according to CBS Sports. The promotion includes yard signs, bumper stickers and pins, and the school’s football account posted that a “H6I5MEN” promo bundle would go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m.
The campaign arrives as Pete Golding begins his first season as Ole Miss head coach. CBS Sports noted that last year, attention around the program was often pulled toward the future of former coach Lane Kiffin. This year, the spotlight is aimed squarely at the backfield.
Golding said Wednesday at SEC media days that outside concern about a preseason Heisman push creating a distraction is understandable, but he does not see it as a problem with Chambliss and Lacy.
“Those two are wired the right way,” Golding said, according to CBS Sports. “So I'm not concerned with how they're going to practice and how they prepare. They're going to do everything they can do to win the football game. They know that's based on their preparation. I have zero concern about it affecting them and becoming an issue.”
Where the Rebels duo ranks
CBS Sports listed the top FBS quarterback-running back yardage seasons since 2000, with Joe Burrow and Clyde Edwards-Helaire of LSU leading the group at 7,906 yards in 2019.
- Burrow and Edwards-Helaire, LSU, 2019: 7,906 yards
- Watson and Gallman, Clemson, 2015: 6,949 yards
- Marcus Mariota and Royce Freeman, Oregon, 2014: 6,773 yards
- Watson and Gallman, Clemson, 2016: 6,507 yards
- Chambliss and Lacy, Ole Miss, 2025: 6,216 yards
Two other SEC backfields cleared 4,000 combined yards last season, according to CBS Sports: Marcel Reed and Rueben Owens II at Texas A&M, and Gunner Stockton and Nate Frazier at Georgia. Both finished nearly 1,800 yards behind the Ole Miss pair.
Chambliss finished eighth in Heisman Trophy voting last season after becoming the starter against Arkansas in Week 3, according to CBS Sports. Lacy was not in the Heisman top 10, but he earned first-team All-SEC honors and was named a CBS Sports second-team All-American.
The Rebels also return defensive standouts Will Echoles and Suntarine Perkins and added the nation’s No. 2-ranked transfer class, according to CBS Sports, giving Ole Miss a roster with College Football Playoff ambitions.
Golding said Ole Miss has “two really elite players” coming off strong seasons, surrounded by more quality players in the same system. He added that the staff has a role in putting them in position to succeed, including through the Heisman campaign.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS Sports.