The NCAA is taking its sweet time to approve the Jeremiah Masoli transfer waiver *UPDATED*

The NCAA loves to take it sweet time on determining whether or not student athletes get cleared to play.  The instances of college football’s governing body waiting until the 11th hour (or later) to pass judgment are too countless to review here.

But in the case of Jeremiah Masoli’s transfer to Ole Miss, the delay is pretty damn curious to me.  Why the hell is the NCAA taking so long to approve this transfer request?

To recap, Masoli has already graduated from Oregon with a year of eligibility remaining.  Under the NCAA’s current set of rules, such an individual can transfer and play immediately at another school so long as the athlete in question enrolls in a graduate program not offered at the school he or she just left.  Alabama hoops player Justin Knox made essentially the same kind of transfer earlier this summer and will play his final season at North Carolina.

If I’m missing something or totally misinterpreting the rule then please, somebody get me up to speed here.  In my mind there shouldn’t be anything in the academic realm to review.  The diploma in Masoli’s hand makes that a moot point.

He’s been accepted at Ole Miss and he’s been practicing with the team.  Hell, if the school already has him on board, the problem wouldn’t appear to be on that end, either.

I’m thinking that either the notoriously slow NCAA has one hell of a backlog of cases to review or they’re trying to make a point here. It’s probably a little bit of both.

Masoli is no saint, that’s a given.  And he’s not entirely in the clear in regard to the traffic/possession charges in June that forced Oregon to kick him off the team.

So I’m not defending the guy’s propensity for knuckleheadedness, because that’s well established.   But I can’t find anything in the NCAA’s rule book saying that someone in Masoli’s position should be denied a transfer request based on previous brushes with the law.

If the NCAA is dragging its feet as a way of showing its dissatisfaction with the situation, then I have a real problem with that.  I’d like to think that they’re above that kind of passive-aggressive behavior.

Maybe the NCAA is taking its cue from members of the media, a good many of whom have expressed a negative view on the Masoli transfer.  For example, here’s Dennis Dodd’s take on the matter:

The SEC doesn’t look good as its image as a football-inclined league (at the expense of academics) is enhanced.  Ole Miss looks worse.  Notice that Vanderbilt, which we all know could use some quarterback help, didn’t, as far as we know, contact Masoli.  Neither did Kansas, another school in desperate need of a quarterback.

But at this school, in this league, there is always room for Jeremiah Masolis. (CBSSports.com)

I understand Dodd’s point and I’m not entirely in disagreement with it.  With that kind of sentiment floating around, any school that rolled the dice on Masoli was bound to take an image hit.

However, Houston Nutt and his bosses at Ole Miss are more than aware of the baggage that comes with taking in Masoli.  If this guy screws up again, some careers will undoubtedly be derailed.  Hell, Nutt might find high school coaching jobs hard to come by if Masoli gets arrested again under his watch.

But the burden of dealing with that potential time bomb lies with the Ole Miss athletic department, not the NCAA.  That’s because while he’s broken some laws in the past, Masoli’s transfer didn’t break any NCAA rules.

If the NCAA wants to change its tune and make this type of transfer more difficult in the future, then it has every right to do so.  But in the meantime, they should go ahead and honor the rules they already have on their books, regardless of how reluctant they are to do so.

*UPDATE* The NCAA finally made a decision this afternoon, Masoli can play football for Ole Miss…in 2011.  Strange stuff, man, strange stuff.

Houston Nutt will have to dust off the Matt Jones playbook for Jeremiah Masoli

In a move that came as no surprise to anyone, Jeremiah Masoli has enrolled at Ole Miss and the quarterback will now get the opportunity to squeeze one more season out of his college football career.

But David Brandt of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger explains why it’s not necessarily a totally done deal as of this morning:

He has applied to enter the Parks and Recreation graduate program at Ole Miss, but hasn’t been accepted as of Sunday evening. The NCAA also has to waive a one-year residency requirement, which is usually granted if the athlete chooses a graduate program not offered at his previous school. (USA Today)

I think these are pretty much all formalities, though, unless some crusty old dean in the Parks and Recreation school starts bitching and moaning about the sanctity of his academic program being undercut by the evil specter of college athletics.  But thankfully for we college football fans, those Jan Kemp types are few and far between.  Screw book learning, I want to see that kid throw a football!

Speaking of Masoli’s on field endeavors, here’s what Brandt had to say:

The San Francisco native will almost certainly help the Rebels on the field, giving the team a dynamic 5-foot-11, 220-pound playmaker who should fit well into Nutt’s offensive system. He passed for 3,891 yards and rushed for 1,386 more during his two years with Oregon, accounting for 51 total touchdowns. (USA Today)

I wholeheartedly agree, Masoli is indeed a dynamic playmaker.  But does he fit that well into head coach Houston Nutt’s current offensive system?  The Ole Miss starter last season, Jevan Snead, bolted for the pros after a miserable junior year.  Much to Snead’s chagrin, nobody drafted him.

That was after playing two years in a college offense that was tailored to his strengths.  Here’s the problem for Nutt this close to preseason drills starting: that offense he set up for Snead doesn’t really cater to his new quarterback’s skill set.

Masoli operated almost exclusively out of the shotgun at Oregon while Snead took damn near every snap from under center at Ole Miss.  And while above average, I don’t think Masoli’s arm is suited for the type of play calling that Nutt emphasized the last two seasons.

What’s that mean?  It’s time for Nutt to pull out the playbook he had for Matt Jones during his days at Arkansas.  In that type of scheme, where a quarterback can make plays with his feet, Masoli can most certainly thrive.

But it’s a hell of a gamble trying to get everyone on the offense to switch gears in a compressed amount of time, which is what Nutt will have to do.  It’ll be very interesting to see how all of this plays out.

Raymond Cotton’s case of nitwit-itis torpedoes Ole Miss’s QB depth chart

A few weeks ago, Raymond Cotton was Ole Miss’s quarterback of the future.  Today, he’s on the verge of being South Alabama’s quarterback of the future.  How did it come to this?

For starters, Cotton’s never been completely healthy since he signed with Ole Miss in 2009.  A torn labrum in his throwing shoulder has only been further irritated by the increased number of passes he’s had to throw since becoming a collegian.

However, that injury didn’t prevent him from participating in the Ole Miss spring game this year, a game in which he didn’t fail to impress (5-of-7 for 178 yards and 2 scores).  But sophomore Nathan Stanley, who’s backed up Jevan Snead the last two seasons, also had a pretty good effort, going 11-of-16 for 166 yards and a couple of scores.

Following the game, here’s what Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt had to say:

“We’re not afraid to play Raymond Cotton,” Nutt said. “He’s can rise to the occasion. We will make a decision on his physical status in the next two weeks. The best case scenario is if Raymond can rehab and play, but we’re going to do what is best for Raymond.” (AP)

If you’re Nutt, what are your options?  Your backup quarterback from the previous season didn’t do anything to fall out of the race for the starting job while your prized redshirt freshman is nursing a bum shoulder.

It’s obvious to everyone observing the situation that Nutt couldn’t very well name Cotton the starter.  But instead of coming out and saying just that, Nutt hedged his bets a little bit.  His motivation for doing so may have been a desire to keep his quarterback’s spirits up.

However, instead of comforting Cotton, Nutt’s approach appeared to have emboldened him.  Reports started circulating weeks ago that he expected a lot of playing time this fall ahead of Stanley, whose superior knowledge of the offense didn’t appear to be that big of a deal to Cotton.

Apparently Cotton is of the belief that SEC coaches start inexperienced quarterbacks who have torn labrums all the time, it’s not that big of a deal.  Good health and familiarity with the playbook?  I guess those are both HIGHLY overrated attributes in the mind of a redshirt freshman.

If you think Cotton was getting these crazy theories on depth chart management from his parents, think again.  They, along with Ole Miss coaches, had been telling him to stay put:

“If (Raymond) listens to mom and dad, he’ll make the right decision,” Nutt said.

On Friday at Southeastern Conference Media Days, Nutt said Cotton’s status with the team was still uncertain. The redshirt freshman quarterback has told people on campus he plans on transferring after the summer semester, but Nutt still wants him to stay.

The third-year Ole Miss coach said he hoped to meet with Cotton and his parents sometime on Friday, and that the issues could be resolved by the end of the weekend. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)

Oh, there was a resolution, alright: Raymond Cotton is transferring, with a likely destination being South Alabama.  Why South Alabama?  He’s familiar with the Mobile area after his family moved there following his senior year of high school in Ft. Meade, Md.

It appears that Nutt and his staff did everything in their power to keep him in the fold.  Unfortunately for them, they were dealing with a kid who refused to look at the big picture.

Cotton’s head scratcher of a move now leaves Ole Miss with two scholarship quarterbacks, the aforementioned Stanley and junior college transfer Randall Mackey.  Ouch.

Suddenly, Ole Miss might be a very likely destination for Jeremiah Masoli, a guy whose rap sheet sank what had been a fantastic career at Oregon.

He’s got a year of eligibility left and can play immediately because he’s got his undergrad degree in hand.  But can Nutt afford to roll the dice on a troubled player who had two run-ins with the law in a six month period?

I don’t think Nutt really has a choice at this point, not with his quarterback depth chart in ruins.  He’d probably settle for a decent kid to fill the third string spot at this point.  But it would be a mighty nice luxury if the quick fix happened to be one of college football’s most dynamic talents.

Ole Miss’s Rodney Scott gets a pass from me

Word came out today that Ole Miss running back Rodney Scott went a couple of rounds with a fellow student named Elmer (not joking) in front of the Turner Center on campus.  Both guys were arrested and both have court dates set for July 27.

What set off the scuffle?  Scott’s coach can provide some background:

UM coach Houston Nutt said the incident started because Scott’s car was “keyed,” which is when somebody takes their car keys and scratches up the paint job on a vehicle. This morning, Nutt said Elmer Johnson was bragging about the damage and that’s when the fight ensued.

“That’s what triggered it,” Nutt said. “(Rodney’s) car is torn up. But he’s got to handle it better.” (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)

I’m just gonna put this out there: keying somebody’s car and then bragging about it is grounds for an ass whipping, plain and simple.  So if what Nutt’s saying is true, then Elmer had it coming.

I know, I know, violence is never really necessary, I hear ya.  But I hope the prosecutors sort this out the right way instead of trying to make an example out of the kid.  After all, Scott won the SEC Sportsmanship Award last month for his quick thinking last year in the Auburn game.

After Auburn safety Zac Etheridge injured his neck making a tackle, he fell and lay motionless on top of Scott.  Instead of pushing him off or wiggling out, Scott stayed still and continued to do so while trainers attended to Etheridge:

Is it sort of funny that the Sportsmanship Award winner gets into a fight a month after winning it?  Yeah, kinda.  But what he did to earn the award coupled with the pussified thing that was done to his car means he should get a free pass.  I still celebrate Rodney Scott’s entire catalog.