Subscribe Feed (RSS)This story in the Eugene Register-Guard uncovers some things about the Duck quarterback’s background that haven’t been reported before:
Masoli is unwilling to discuss the details of his guilty plea for the robberies in and around San Mateo, Calif., in 2005, which resulted in his expulsion from Serra High and a stint in the juvenile detention center.
But, speaking in general terms, Masoli acknowledged the significance of his experience in the detention center.
“I definitely grew up quickly,” he said. “Once you go inside, you definitely have to grow up quickly.”
Juvenile court records are closed, but media accounts and a source close to the school confirmed that Masoli was one of several Serra football players arrested in June 2005, and subsequently expelled, for targeting individuals at San Mateo’s Hillsdale Mall and isolated bus stops in the area, muscling them for money.
A respected student and a team captain, Masoli pleaded guilty to robbery, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
Citing California student-privacy laws, Serra football coach Patrick Walsh wouldn’t discuss specifics about Masoli’s involvement with the crimes but did say it had a tremendous effect on the school and the football team.
“Very shocking,” said Walsh, now in his ninth season as the coach at the private, all-boys Catholic school. “It was very difficult on all of us. He was an all-league quarterback, and he just got caught up in something he shouldn’t have.”
Masoli said his family and his faith helped him get through.
“It’s one of those things I was taught when I was little, just to persevere no matter what,” he said. “You just gotta lean on God. That’s really what I was brought up on. Everybody has their bad days, bad weeks, whatever. I just feel like I’m such a strong person because of the people who raised me that I could get through anything.”
He admitted, though, that there were moments his faith waned, moments when he wasn’t sure if he’d be given another chance to play football.
“It’s always tough. There’s temptation everywhere,” he said. “I’m just like any other person on the street.
“It is what it is,” he added. “It’s life, and that’s what happened. And now I’m here and doing this.”
Tags: College football, Dwight Jaynes, Jeremiah Masoli, Oregon Ducks
Oregon will just turn this into a marketing campaign and dub the Masoli/Blount backfield combo as “Assault and Battery”
You win.
Ignorant wildcat, stay in the bleachers before the game is over.
seeing how it was 4 years ago, I would say Masoli has done a great job transcending his troubles and becoming an excellent man
The Ducks certainly know how to choose young men of great character.
a world without forgiveness is a graveyard in the making.
Jeremiah’s mom, Linda Masoli, posted in the comments section of that article on Rob Moseley’s blog. She explained what really happened. I highly recommend reading her comments. Her comments are the third post:
http://www2.registerguard.com/cms/index.php/duck-football/comments/masoli-is-living-in-the-moment/
What do you expect his mommy to say??? Of course she’s going to contend that her dear darling little boy was innocent.
Do you suppose Jeremiah was only in the car with those other ‘bad boys’ just that one time??? Heck, he probably didn’t even know those other boys…he just got in the car with them. Maybe he thought they were going church instead and they tricked him by taking him to rob people at the mall.
So obviously, Jeremiah was innocent, and it’s all those other boys’ fault, and it’s the irresponsible newspaper’s fault for writing about it, and it’s the schools fault, for expelling those boys, and it’s the coaches fault for talking to the newspaper…
Sure are a lot of bad people at fault according to mom’s comments.
Don’t be ridiculous. His mom isn’t exonerating him of all responsibility, she is simply providing some insight into the “facts” of the case as reported by the RG.
Here are the ‘facts’ she disputes:
“Let me state some facts for the record:
1) Jeremiah was never involved in a SERIES of strong armed robberies.
2) He did not ‘dive’ into crime.
3) The High School expelled them all and didn’t care to what extent of involvement.
4) The Juvenile records are sealed for a reason – to protect privacy.”
No. 1 is an argument about semantics. Jeremiah never got CAUGHT more than once…who knows how many he participated in.
No. 2 is another silly semantics point.
No. 3 is pure speculation about what the school “cared” to do. It might be a fact that all the boys got expelled. But I don’t think the RG reported that they didn’t.
No. 4 is …. duh!!!
————–
Mom is providing absolutely ZERO insight into the facts of what happened.
Got any more room in your ivory palace?
Muslim = keyboard gladiator…
You’re known by the company you keep. If you watch you drive you rob a house and your friend kills the homeowner you both go on trial for murder 1. So because he was just in the car he isn’t guilty. As a captain and leader would it not be just as easy to lead and say, bad idea guys I’ll walk home?
This is just sad. At least he has kept his nose clean (as far as I know) since he has become a Duck.
Uh huh. Just like Mom said “he was only caught once.”
As far as you know is right. I’m guessing that Jeremiah’s own words still ring true here.
Once you go inside, you definitely have to grow up quickly.
And the point of bringing this up 4 years after the fact is what? What’s your agenda? Should he continue to be punished the rest of his life by people like you?
That was in the past. Shut up. Is there anyone you don’t bash?
Get real, people. Who is bashing anyone???? It happened. What do you mean what’s the point of bringing it up??? It’s news, that’s why. Why did they write the story in the first place? Because it’s news. It happened.
Don’t you get it Dwight? You can only right good things… or people will kill the messenger.
Hey OSEwe fan it’s “write” not right. If Dwight wrote about the Beav’s your panties would be in a wad. He does write about the Beav’s because they don’t bring the hits to Dwight’s website.
Or they don’t have convicted criminals on the team?
No criminals just because sheep humping is legal in your county doesn’t count. If it were illegal there….well, you might be lucky to field a team.
We’re not so easily trolled, in other words.
Pot calling the kettle black?
THE BEAVS are LOSERS and WE(DUCKS) proved it on the football field. GO DUCKS
Maybe go back and do a story on his grade school days and see if he ever threw rocks at birds while you are at it. What a ridiculous waste of time Dwight. If he was such a danger then he would have been put in jail etc. He made a bad choice….It is what you do after that poor choice that should define you. Has he done anything else? Has he been nothing but a class act since being in Eugene?
The hypocrisy of people is truly amazing. Let’s punish people for the rest of their lives for making a poor choice as a kid, wow. Let’s not give him a chance to make something out of himself, he’s much better roaming the streets with no prospects. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I DON’T COME HERE TO READ STORIES THAT CLOWNZANO WOULD WRITE. You are better than this Dwight.
Juvy records are sealed like this for this very reason , kids make mistakes , get in the wrong crowd , and just generally screw up. I did stupid things as a kid , just like most of you. The idea is that we give kids a chance to learn from their mistakes , and it seems JM has done a good job of that. He and every other adult does not need persecution years later by the press.
GO DUCKS
Exactly. Although I would have to say Go Beavs.
Dwight is not the press though, he is pretty much like a tabloid these days.
Sorry Masoli behaved like a common criminal. Has he kept clean since?
dwight, did you ever get in trouble as a kid? lets talk about that because it HAPPENED right? so its news. what else HAPPENED in 2005 that we might not know about. lets break it down
To be fair Dwight, you used to be a journalist and we don’t hold that against ya =-)
How dare anyone question the ducks practice squad player who committed assault on national television past behavior….
Well, the problem is that people tend to take any act and engage in inductive reasoning as to character. “If he did “this”, he must be “that” and he’ll never change.
The reason juvenile court is limited and juvenile court records are sealed and not the same as adult court records is that acts by a juvenile can be the product of undeveloped character and not indicative of a person’s enduring traits.
It doesn’t mean much to me when contrasted with what he’s done since.
Considering how supportive (and sometimes even protective) the Register Guard is of the UO, I was stunned to read Jude’s story on Masoli, and even more surprised to read their rationalization that Masoli’s success since this dark chapter is a positive story of redemption that enhances his reputation. That’s a load of self-serving crap. And it’s incredibly naive of them to not see the damage this does to Jeremiah in the public arena. I don’t know why they dug this up, but I feel like we’re all somewhat sullied by it.
Speaking of not pretty…
I thought Stanford’s offense was QUITE pretty, actually. A thing of beauty.
Hank , that is why it is locally known as the Regretable Guard
Did Stanford really just drop over 50 points on the ‘ucks? The same Stanford squad that OSU waxed like a floor a few weeks back?
Must be karma… folks in Yoogene start talking about letting Big Fat Blount back on the team, and the football gods respond with a beat-down on national TV. At least all the pretense of the ‘ucks being title contenders can be put back on the shelf until next year, and Oregon can focus on trying to beat ‘zona in order to preserve a Rose Bowl shot. (In reality, no Pac-10 team is BCS-worthy this year; they should just let Boise play whoever the Big 10 champ is and call it good).
Given that the ‘ucks played in San Diego last year, if they can’t beat the Cats (or the Devils or Beavs for that matter), I could see ‘em dropping all the way into the Vegas Bowl.
First, congrats to Stanford, great performance.
Second, becareful comparing records and teams. One could suggest that because OSEwe lost to USC that Oregon is far better because they waxed USC.. But where and when you play do present factors to a game.
I find it so funny that OSEwe fan has to bash and be jealous of any success that the Ducks have. I honestly root for both teams except when they play eachother. Yes I know duck fan can be obnoxious but the constant inferiority complex shown by OSEwe fan is something special.
And the arrogance of Duck fans is laughable, especially since they don’t have all that much to be arrogant about. Except, of course, all dump truck loads of money Phil Knight keeps dropping off at their doorstep.
Hmmmm…
I guess this story did say a lot about Masoli’s character after all. How are all you uck fans with green colored glasses on going to spin grand theft as payback for getting kicked out of a party. Or is that the standard understanding at the frats in Eugene? If you get kicked out of a party you have the right to steal from the frat.
The thing you did not understand about the story above is that it was not a harmless act of shoplifting, they were beating up on people and stealing from them. That is a thug action and he ended up doing jail time for it. I guess anything to get that National Championship is okay. You defended Belotti getting a murderer off a few years ago and now your whole team depends on a convicted felon.
Hey GreenC
Get the facts first douche!
http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/Police-Two-UO-football-players-NOT-considered/Tki8BLXyBkilR6c1XCBlmQ.cspx