The 10th in a series previewing SEC football teams.
LITTLE ROCK — A late addition to Ole Miss’ 2010 class of newcomers could change predictions that the Rebels will take a hard fall in the SEC West after finishing 9-4 and winning the Cotton Bowl each of the past two seasons.
Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who led Oregon to the Rose Bowl last season when he had a combined 28 touchdowns passing and rushing, appears set to join the Rebels and figures to raise expectations for a teamthat lost its top playmakers on offense.
Masoli said on his Web site - jeremiahmasoli.net - that he was in Oxford, Miss., on Friday after being invited to visit the Ole Miss campus and meet with academic and athletic department officials.
“I’m excited to explore the opportunity to enroll in a graduate program and play football in the fall,” Masoli wrote.
Masoli, who in June was dismissed at Oregon by Coach Chip Kelly after first pleading guilty to felonysecond-degree burglary and then being cited on misdemeanor traffic and drug charges, already has earned an undergraduate degree.
According to NCAA rules, he is eligible to play immediately this season if he is accepted into a school’s graduate program.
Masoli has applied to the Ole Miss graduate school to earn a master’s degree in parks and recreation management, according to multiple reports, and is awaiting acceptance from the registrar’s office.
Earlier this week Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in a text message that he is “always” concerned about the criticism that could result from Masoli joining the Rebels, but also is concerned about “criticism I might receive if something happens and I don’t have a QB to finish the year.”
Ole Miss needs help at quarterback with Jevan Snead,a two-year starter, leaving school after last season to pursue an NFL career and redshirt freshman Anthony Cotton announcing last week he was leaving the program.
The Rebels’ only two scholarship quarterbacks are redshirt sophomore Nate Stanley and junior college transfer Randall Mackey.
Stanley - the projectedstarter, at least until Masoli officially joins the team - played in five games last season and completed 11 of 23 passes for 163 yards and 1 touchdown with 1 interception.
Masoli completed 177 of 305 passes for 2,147 yards and 15 touchdowns last season, when he also rushed for 668 yards and 13 touchdowns.
After transferring to Oregon in 2008 from City College in San Francisco, Masoli quickly moved up the depth chart because of injuries and finished the season with 13 touchdown passes and 10 rushing touchdowns, and was named MVP of the Ducks’ Holiday Bowl victory over Oklahoma State.
Given Ole Miss’ soft earlyseason schedule before backto-back road games at Alabama and Arkansas, Masoli has time to become comfortable leading the Rebels’ offense.
“This is a risky proposition for Ole Miss,” Tony Barnhart wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constituion. “We can all sit on our moral high horse and say that it shouldn’t be done no way, no how.
“But what do you do if you’re in the toughest football conference in America and this guy can help you win? And let’s not kid ourselves. Houston Nutt is not going to get fired for dealing with the Jeremiah Masolis of the world.
“If he gets fired it will be because he didn’t win enough games, period. That is why this is a difficult call.”
Masoli was set to sit out this season under suspension at Oregon after his plea bargain involving a charge of taking laptops from a fraternity house. But he then was kicked off the team when police cited him for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, driving with a suspended license and failing to stop upon exiting a gas station driveway.
Masoli also pleaded guilty to a robbery charge as a juvenile.
In an effort to repair his image, Masoli is being represented by a Los Angeles public relations firm, Sitrick And Company. He also has launched a website with family pictures and supportive comments from others, and has done an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated for an article titled “The untold story behind Jeremiah Masoli’s past, downfall at Oregon,” which casts the quarterback in a more favorable light.
“I made a few very poor decisions in the past year, and I apologize to my family, friends and fans for them,” Masoli said on his website. “But I am not the person who has been portrayed in many media stories.
“The Sports Illustrated story, I hope, will help set the record straight. I am not a thief nor a thug. The people who know me best know that is the truth.”
Assuming Masoli joins Ole Miss, it will be the second consecutive year Nutt has added a player dismissed by another team, and he has to hope it works out better this time.
Last year, safety Jamar Hornsby, who had been dismissed at Florida after being charged with fraudulent use of a dead student’s credit card, joined the Rebels from a junior college. But before Hornsby ever got on the field for Ole Miss, Nutt kicked him off the team because of his indictment on a felony assault charge.
NEXT LSU
About the RebelsLAST YEAR 9-4, 4-4 SEC RETURNING STARTERS Offense 3, defense 6 SURE THING Defensive line UNSURE THING Receivers OFFENSIVE MVP QB Jeremiah Masoli* DEFENSIVE MVP NG Jerrell Powe SEC TITLE SCENARIO Ole Miss figures to be stout on defense, especially up front. If Masoli joins the team as expected, he’ll give the offense a much needed playmaker who can produce with his arm and legs.
*Awaiting acceptance into the school’s graduate program
Sports, Pages 19 on 07/31/2010