Ole Miss is a welcoming place these days. In February, the Rebels agreed to take on at least a dozen recruits with no chance of qualifying to play this fall, then distribute them among Mississippi's many junior colleges. Among that number is Jamar Hornsby, the former Florida Gator booted by Urban Meyer last May after being arrested for using the credit card of another UF student to buy $3,000 worth of gas -- less than a week after the student and her boyfriend, a teammate of Hornsby's, were both killed in a motorcycle accident. He was eventually convicted of four counts of misdemeanor credit card fraud, put on probation and matriculated to East Mississippi Community College.

Because he believes everyone deserves a second chance, Nutt extended a scholarship offer to Hornsby in February. A little less than a month into that lifeline, Hornsby was arrested again, charged with felony assault and petit larceny for allegedly using brass knuckles to send a man to the hospital and rob him of $6 after a "small traffic accident" in a McDonald's drive-through line.

For most coaches, two cold, cringe-inducing offenses in less than a year -- the second while on probation, having already been excommunicated by one program and granted a second chance -- would be enough to cut the cord. But ESPN's Chris Low reports from this week's SEC meetings that Nutt clearly believes in giving a guy all three strikes:

Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt isn't giving up on troubled signee Jamar Hornsby and remains hopeful that the junior college safety will be a part of the Rebels' program.

"Talking to him, lawyers, his mama, coaches, people that have been around him, I think there's a lot of good there," Nutt said. "But again, we'll wait until that court case and find out exactly what happens there. I'm hoping that we'll have a chance to get him in our family and get going. But I don't know for sure."
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Nutt said a big part of Hornsby's fate with the Rebels would hinge on what happens to him during the legal process.

That is, on whether or not Hornsby is incarcerated. The judicial system -- like the NCAA, as long as it's a petty case like Jeremy Jarmon's -- is not always quite as forgiving as Oxford's Right Reverend. They should find out when Hornsby goes on trial on Aug. 12 -- just in time to get him into preseason drills.