Make Masoli a Rebel.

Just a few days ago, the quarterback situation at Ole Miss looked like this: Nathan Stanley in the starting-role with one collegiate touchdown and sparse mop-up duty under his belt, with redshirt freshman Raymond Cotton and junior college transfer Randall Mackey ready to take over if Stanley cracked under the pressure of SEC football, like every other quarterback we’ve had since Eli left for New York.

Now, it looks like the answer to the Rebels’ quarterback woe is: none of the above.

According to reports from several newspapers and websites interested in Ole Miss football, former Oregon-starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli may be a few NCAA formalities from joining Houston Nutt’s offense that looks in desperate need of a playmaker.

That is exactly who Masoli is. Last season, he threw for 2,147 yards, 15 TDs and 6 Ints, rushed for 668 and 13 TDs and led his team to a 10-3 record, a Pac-10 title and a berth in the Rose Bowl.

The senior was removed from the Ducks’ squad after pleading guilty to second-degree burglary for stealing laptops from a frat house and then being given a citation in June for less than an ounce of marijuana.

Despite his checkered past, Ole Miss should make every attempt to make Masoli a Rebel.

Masoli has fulfilled his debt to society for his crimes, which, let’s face it, aren’t exactly egregious offenses. He stole some laptops - like we haven’t heard that one before. Cam Newton is competing for the starting quarterback job at Auburn after being dismissed from Florida for the same thing.

Sure, fans of rival schools will make comments about him being a “thug” or a “convict”. They’re just jealous, and maybe a bit scared, that we might be getting a quarterback who’s got a 10-win season and a Rose Bowl under his belt.

A major college program is going to give this guy a second chance, so why not us?

Masoli has finished all of his undergraduate work and has successfully taken the GRE. That means, according to NCAA rules, that Masoli could bypass the oneyear residency rule and play for the Rebels in 2010 if he enrolls in a graduate program that Ole Miss offers and Oregon does not.

Prior to Raymond Cotton’s departure, Nutt said he was not interested in making Masoli a Rebel, but things change when you look at your team and you only have two scholarship quarterbacks, one with little college experience and the other, a junior college transfer, not yet on campus.

Though he would only be a Rebel for one season, I think Masoli would be a great fit for Ole Miss. He can provide leadership and experience to an unexperienced offense, as well as an accurate arm and quick feet.

And a year working with a seasoned quarterback who knows how to win could get Stanley and/or Mackey ready to take the reigns in 2011.

The addition of Masoli could take the Rebels from the team picked last in the SEC West, with high hopes shooting for seven wins and a December trip to Shreveport or Memphis, to a team that could earn another New Year’s Day trip to Dallas, or even better, Florida.