Spring practice had begun by the time Masoli asked Palmer, the long snapper, to provide his statement. Masoli, who had signed a deal with Kelly listing several conditions of his possible reinstatement, was allowed to dress out and run through drills as a backup receiver. One day, Embry showed up.
"He was on the sideline and everybody was shocked that he was even there," Masoli recalls. In the locker room afterward, Masoli "asked him straight up, 'Wassup, man? ...
You know what happened. You're the only person that knows what happened.'"
"I told him, 'I know the whole court thing is over now, we can't go to the D.A. and tell him. Why can't you just go up to Coach Kelly and tell him what happened? Why can't you just help me out with this football situation? So at least my coach trusts me on some level. ... '
"[Embry] said he was scared to go talk to [Kelly] because he was not gonna get his release [to transfer to another school], something to that effect, and I just couldn't believe it. I said, 'You're sitting here looking me in the eye telling me that? That's your excuse? A transfer?
Look at what really happened, man!'
"He really had nothing to say. Really nothing to say."
At that point, Masoli says, he decided to move on. Palmer's statement and his own impending graduation (in mid-July Masoli completed all requirements to receive his sociology degree from Oregon) buoyed the Masoli family throughout the spring.
Then came the events of June 7, which prompted Kelly to dismiss Masoli from the team for good.
