The never ending saga of former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli rumor meme is making its way to Las Vegas. First lets list the places Masoli has been either been rumored to go to or been rejected from: Utah State was a rumor, Ole Miss was not interested, he was reportedly heading to Louisiana Tech, Hawaii had talks with Masoli but nothing happened there, and way back at the beginning Masoli was to be entering the NFL supplemental draft.
Now the latest is that Masoli is heading to UNLV. Does Masoli realize that Mike Sanford is not at UNLV anymore and that the offense is trending toward a more pro-style offense? However, the main reason Masoli would be looking to head to UNLV is that he would be eligible right away.
However, would Masoli be able to beat out Omar Clayton or Mike Clausen, and would new head coach want to handicap his system for one season with a quarterback who does not run his type of offense:
ESPN Insider also has a report on Masoli coming to UNLV, but questions how Masoli would fit into first-year coach Bobby Hauck's offense.
"Seriously, could there be a better match for the legally challenged former Oregon QB than Sin City? And on the football side, new Rebels coach Bobby Hauck certainly needs all the help he can get," ESPN wrote.
"However, Hauck ran a ground-based, possession-oriented attack (albeit a high-scoring one) at Montana; would he be willing to adapt to the freewheeling Masoli, an ideal spread-option QB?"
Masoli would be eligible because he finished requirements for an undergraduate degree at Oregon this summer.
UNLV primarily used three quarterbacks during spring practice - senior Omar Clayton, who started most of 2009 before being injured, junior Mike Clausen and redshirt freshman Caleb Herring.
To me this looks to be all rumor with no legs, because UNLV is transitioning into a more pro style run based offense and away from a spread option offense that had been run the previous five years at UNLV. Plus, UNLV all ready has three really talented quarterbacks starting with Omar Clayton and Mike Clausen who are a similar player to Masoli. Both are athletic quarterbacks who can throw, and then there is redshirt freshman Caleb Herring who the staff is high on and is more of a traditional drop back passer and is going to be the future of the Rebels in the Bobby Hauck offense.
UNLV has always been a school that has accepted transfers from the Pac-10, but nothing has ever come from acquiring these types of players. My opinion is that it would be a mistake for both sides if Masoli were to come to UNLV. First, there is a ton of competition at the quarterback spot and there is no certainty that Masoli would be the starter, and on the UNLV side why take a chance on a troubled player who does not fit the system and would only be hindrance in moving the program forward.
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