Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, formerly a standout at City College of San Francisco and a onetime star at Serra High School in San Mateo, is the subject of a disturbing report in today’s Oregonian. 

Jeremiah Masoli was on the cover of one of Sports Illustrated's regional college football preview issues

According to the paper, police in Eugene, Oregon, are investigating an alleged theft at a University of Oregon fraternity house, and the student who reported the incident to police identified Masoli and Oregon teammate Garrett Embry as the people who took some computer equipment.  

No charges have been filed because the investigation is just beginning, and there has been no confirmation that Masoli and Embry were the perpetrators.  In fact, KMTR.com in Eugene is reporting that Masoli and Embry are not considered suspects at this time.

(You can read the Oregonian account by clicking here.)

Masoli had come a long way to become the star of an Oregon team that went to the Rose Bowl this season, and he was a symbol of how people can turn their life around.

He had been a standout quarterback at Serra High School in San Mateo as a junior, but when he was just 16 years old, he was arrested for his part in a robbery, and he spent a few months at Hillcrest Juvenile Hall in San Mateo as a result.   He was dismissed from Serra, and Masoli and his father moved to Hawaii, where he spent his senior year of high school at St. Louis High School in Honolulu.    Because he arrived during the school year, he began the football season as a backup, getting only minimal playing time until midway through the season.

Masoli did not get enough exposure to earn much attention from Division I schools, so he came to CCSF and became a star as a freshman, helping George Rush’s team win a community college state championship and being named MVP in the 2007 title game.    He was planning to return for a second season at CCSF, but in May of 2008, Oregon needed another quarterback and offered Masoli a scholarship.    Despite the lateness of the offer, Masoli accepted and came to the Ducks’ fall camp three months later as the Ducks’ No. 5 quarterback.  

After a series of injuries to other quarterbacks, Masoli got into a game early in the 2008 season and soon earned the starting job.   He was the driving force behind Oregon’s second-place Pac-10 finish and victory over Oklahoma State in the 2008 Holiday Bowl    Because expectations were so high for him and Oregon in 2009, Masoli found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated last August  August. After a terrible game in the opener against Boise State, Masoli got his game together and led the Ducks to the Pac-10 title as a junior, and was named second-team all-conference.

He was expected to receive preseason attention as a Heisman Trophy candidate next fall, and Oregon was considered the favorite to win the Pac-10 title again, perhaps challenge for a national title.

Nobody at Oregon is making any comments about Masoli until the investigation is further along.