Good atricle by CA's Ron Higgins on Masoli

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Explains a lot about the process Nutt went through to make his decision about Masoli. Definitely eases my mind a bit.

Former Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli: I'm Coming To Ole Miss
Ron Higgins
Memphis Commercial Appeal
August 2, 2010



Masoli, from Daly City, Calif., near San Francisco, hasn't been accepted into graduate school so he can be immediately eligible to play his final year of college football. But Sunday on his web site, jeremiahmasoli.net, and in a story on SI.com, Masoli confirmed he's headed to Ole Miss.

“It looks like I am going to be a Rebel!” Masoli said on his website after his visit to the school this weekend. “The University of Mississippi has accepted my application for graduate school and Coach (Houston) Nutt has invited me to walk on the football team. It will be official when my transcripts and other paperwork are approved.

“I am very excited about this opportunity and very thankful Ole Miss is giving me this chance. I really want to thank Coach (Houston) Nutt for believing in me.

“I am flying back to California today and will return to Oxford on Wednesday to begin conditioning. This trip made me realize that competition isn't the only thing that is hot in the Southeast. After growing up in the Bay Area, I've got to get used to the Mississippi heat.”

The 5-11, 220-pound Masoli was a second-team All-Pac-10 quarterback last year, when he had 2,815 yards total offense and 28 touchdowns in leading league champ Oregon to the Rose Bowl. He was kicked off Oregon’s team in June following two run-ins with police in a six-month period.

He pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in connection with a Jan. 24 robbery at an Oregon fraternity house on the Oregon campus. He received a year’s probation; then on June 7 he received a citation for marijuana possession after police found a small amount in the glove compartment of his car.

Two days later, Oregon coach Chip Kelly, who had already suspended Masoli for the 2010 season for the burglary incident, threw him off the team.

Ole Miss’ Nutt said that after Masoli’s whirlwind visit over the weekend in which he met players, coaches and administrators, he and Masoli have a clear understanding of what is expected if he’s accepted into school. He told Masoli that he agreed with Kelly about tossing Masoli off the Oregon team.

“I’ve told him the rules are going to be different for him,” Nutt said of Masoli. “I told him I have zero tolerance. I have a hair trigger. I know he knows I will pull the trigger so fast.

“This is a kid that has already graduated, who looks at you with bright eyes when you talk to him, who is focused, who says `yes sir’ and `no sir’, but also someone who has made some dumb decisions.

“I told him, 'Darned, you’re smart, but you’re dumb.’ He said, `I want to prove to you I’m smart, I want to prove to you I’ve got good character.’ I said, `You’ve got a funny way of showing that.’ ”

Nutt said he painted a picture of what he and Masoli will be facing from critics who are already saying Nutt wants to win so bad that he’s accepting a questionable character into his program.

“I told him, `Look, I don’t have a career record of recruiting criminals,’ ” Nutt said. “I said, `Do you realize I’ve got my career on the line? I got eyes on me for taking a thug, that’s what people are saying. You’ve got to be able to handle it and be a positive kid.’ ”
Masoli wrote on his website that Nutt and the Ole Miss administration were “kind and understanding” during his visit.

“I worried that the bad publicity from Oregon might make them think badly of me,” Masoli wrote. “But I hope the Sports Illustrated story and my visit there convince them that I’m not the person who’s been portrayed in many stories. I’d also like to thank the people at the University of Oregon who said good things about me to the people at Mississippi.”

Masoli told SI.com that he hopes being a walk-on and not on scholarship will dull the anticipated vicious roar of naysayers.

"Either way, scholarship or not, they're going to get some criticism for taking me," Masoli said of Ole Miss. "Without the scholarship, I think it deflects some of that criticism."

Until nine days ago, Nutt wasn’t considering taking Masoli, who can transfer and be immediately eligible under an NCAA rule that allows players who have bachelor's degrees to transfer to schools that offer graduate programs their current schools don't offer.

But when Ole Miss backup quarterback Raymond Cotton decided to transfer, it left Ole Miss with only two inexperienced QBs (one a junior college signee) on scholarship. So Nutt reconsidered Masoli, who sent his Oregon release papers to Ole Miss.

“I could have not gone after him (Masoli), gone 6-6 this season and got ready to reload (for 2011),” said Nutt, whose team was picked at the recent SEC preseason media days to finish last in the SEC’s Western Division. “But when you think about your team, you have an obligation to them to do everything you can to put them in the best situation to win.”

Nutt said he met with 60 percent of his current team in selected groups, starting with his quarterbacks. He said he wouldn’t have pursued Masoli if the majority of his players had been against it but said the players told him that “we want to win and we want you to do what’s best to help our team.”

Nutt spent the first few days last week making phone call after phone call. Some were to selected veteran members of the media, with Nutt asking them to gauge the backlash he would receive for pursuing Masoli.

Also, Nutt investigated Masoli’s background and the circumstances around his arrests. He made calls to everyone who ever coached Masoli -- they all spoke highly of him -- and talked extensively with Masoli’s parents.

Nutt knew that a SI.com investigative story on Masoli’s off-the-field problems, which was published Thursday, would give him clarity.

“I felt better after talking to his mother, because this kid is under the gun and he knows it,” Nutt said. “When the SI.com article came out, it said a lot of the same things that his parents had told me. He's a good kid.

“That’s what pushed it over the edge for me. We’d done enough homework. That’s when I knew I had to bring him here for 48 hours to have him front of our coaches, our administrators and our players. If I hadn’t brought him in, I’m out, because there were other schools who wanted him. He had other coaches texting him while he was here visiting us.”

Masoli said on his website he wants to seek a master's degree in parks and recreation at Ole Miss.

“I like the outdoors and I like dealing with kids, especially young athletes,” Masoli wrote. “Getting a master’s degree in parks and recreation management should open up a number of opportunities.”

He also wrote that is excited to get a chance to play again. Even this past spring, when he was suspended at Oregon with no chance of playing this season, Masoli went to practice and played receiver on the scout squad.

Masoli certainly won’t be doing that with the Rebels. Nutt said he’s looked at YouTube clips of Masoli, noting that “he can really throw the ball.”

While Masoli noted his excitement to SI.com -- "I can't wait to play some SEC ball, to be honest with you," Masoli said. -- Ole Miss defensive end Kentrell Lockett gave a nod to his newest teammate with a Twitter entry that read, “Shoutout to newest member of squad J. Masoli.”

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... -ole-miss/
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