Is Masoli off Oregon's team?

Word on the street is that Jeremiah Masoli, who was once kicked out of high school, will now likely lose his scholarship at the University of Oregon.

Rumblings suggest he failed a drug test and was recently booted from the team.

Head Coach Chip Kelly is about to embark on a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit our troops.

Good time to be out of town.

If the rumors are true, it's too bad for Masoli who was kicked out of Serra High in the Bay Area, for robbing people at a mall.

He was arrested in January for stealing in notebook computer and other things from a frat house near the Oregon campus. For that crime, he was suspended from the upcoming season, but remained on the team. Now apparently, it's over.

I guess playing in front of 60,000 adoring, screaming fans wasn't enough of a rush for him.

Now, he'll get his kicks elsewhere, not at Autzen Stadium.

With the starting quarterback from last year's Rose Bowl team gone for good, and with former head coach/athletic director Mike Bellotti moving on to ESPN, the Ducks are poised for big things this coming season.

The target is off their backs. There is less expected of them.