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In this Dec. 3, 2009, file photo, former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli looks downfield during an NCAA college football game with Oregon State in Eugene. (The Associated Press)
Sources earlier Monday indicated that an announcement confirming the former Oregon star to Ole Miss could come soon.
In a text message Nutt indicated that the school must first receive a visit from Masoli and that the entire process could take up to seven days to work itself out.
In two seasons at Oregon, Masoli rushed for 1,386 yards and 23 touchdowns, while passing for 3,891 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Pac-10 coaches voted him their second-team all-conference quarterback last year. He led the Ducks to the Rose Bowl, but before the month was finished he was in trouble with the law.
On Jan. 24 Masoli and a former teammate were charged with second-degree burglary for stealing laptop computers from a fraternity house. Masoli pleaded guilty. He received a year of probation and was suspended for the 2010 season by Oregon coach Chip Kelly.
On June 7, Masoli was stopped for a traffic violation where it was determined he was in possession of an ounce or less of marijuana and was driving with a suspended license.
Masoli was then dismissed from the team.
Masoli's attorney, Daniel Koenig, told the Oregonian newspaper in Portland last week that Masoli pleaded guilty to the possession and a failure to stop charge and that the suspended license charge was thrown out.
Masoli paid $613 in fines and has no further legal obligations, Koenig said.
Nutt had earlier said he was not interested in pursuing Masoli, who has completed undergraduate course work and can transfer and play immediately as a graduate student.
Nutt's original stance was before backup quarterback Raymond Cotton announced on Saturday that he was leaving the team.
Cotton's decision leaves Ole Miss with two scholarship quarterbacks: Nathan Stanley who appeared in five games last year and junior college transfer Randall Mackey who joined the program this summer.
Nutt said he is "always" concerned about the criticism that could be directed at the program if Masoli becomes a part, but he is also concerned about "criticism I might receive if something happens, and I don't have a QB to finish the year."
Contact Parrish Alford at 678-1600 or parrish.alford@djournal.com
It does not matter how badly someone wants to go to college if they can't qualify academically to get into a college and has to take 3 years of additional high school courses to have a possibility of qualifying or has to seek an exception for admittance because they had to leave another university due to their criminal behavior. Is Ole Miss a flagship university for the state of Mississippi or a trade school or charity organization?
Aren't you embarrassed enough over chasing after Powe for 3 or 4 years as he tried to make it past high school only to have him admitted into Ole Miss?
Sure, Austin left because of his own personal reasons. My god you people are falling in line just like sheep. I'm stunned with all of the evidence of how Nutt operates that you are enjoying watching history repeat itself. You actually support the hiring of Rader as a useless puppet after watching what Nutt and Markuson did to your offense last season.
Ask some of Nutt's former players whom he bad mouthed to the NFL how great of a person he is. Or the lives he tried to ruin in his power struggle to keep his last job. No isolated event or coincidence Matt Jones was caught with other former Nutt players with cocaine. Ask some of his former players about the cocaine use or drug trafficking. You truly have no idea what you have in Nutt do you? You think an AD of 50 years and a chancellor of a university get forced out of their jobs just because a football coach "left"? I know much more about Nutt and his character than you do obviously. Yet you reply to me about what I've read in the media.
Nutt is all about himself. He would rather embarrass Ole Miss again by taking another criminal, this time one who shouldn't even be allowed in this semester by the university's grad school guidelines, to save his own butt. That isn't character.
"Nutt said he is "always" concerned about the criticism that could be directed at the program if Masoli becomes a part, but he is also concerned about "criticism I might receive if something happens, and I don't have a QB to finish the year."