He may be a true freshman, but UCLA Football quarterback Josh Rosen is anything but. From hot tubs to breaking records, Rosen is subtly making a name for himself in Westwood.
Josh Rosen is technically a (true) freshman. It says so on his profile page at UCLABruins.com. But looking at how he plays football and diving into his stats, you would think otherwise.
Also, apparently he has a hot tub in his dorm room that the internet went crazy about. Seriously, who has a hot tub in their dorm? He does.
Josh Rosen is definitely not your average freshman.
Oct 22, 2015; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen (3) passes against the California Golden Bears during the first quarter at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Proof of that came last Thursday in UCLA’s 40-24 win over the California Golden Bears where Rosen has done several amazing things. To be honest, there were several amazing things that happened during this game anyway like a 60-yard field goal, bands coming together to reenact the ‘Fall of Troy’, an acrobatic circus field goal and yeah, then there was Rosen.
UCLA Football true freshman quarterback Josh Rosen had a phenomenal game against Cal after two “just okay” performances against Arizona State and Stanford, both which turned out to be losses for the Bruins.
Things were different for the Bruins and Rosen last week as they bounced back in a crucial must-win game. Against the Bears, Rosen threw for 399 yards, averaged 8.5 yards per attempt, threw for 3 touchdowns and had 72.3% completion rating after setting a school record for 34 completed passes on 47 attempts.
Not only that, but Rosen set the single-season true freshman passing record in just seven games as he has already gained 1,968 yards in 2015.
Just imagine what this guy will do as a sophomore.
But I think that is the point. Towards the beginning of the season, he was definitely a true freshman. Virginia notwithstanding, we saw Josh Rosen take his lumps in games against UNLV, BYU and the aforementioned ASU and Stanford games.
Now, he is a seasoned freshman that has experienced the big hits, perplexing rush defenses, bad offensive line play and has even made the expected freshman mistakes. Not surprisingly, he has adjusted to all of it and keeps pushing forward.
UCLA Bruins
But now the Bruins are moving into the “lighter” part of the schedule (really, there is no lighter part of the schedule in the Pac-12) as they are set to face Colorado, Oregon State and Washington State. All three of these teams are in the bottom half of the Pac-12 stats in total defense.
Not to say that UCLA will roll over these teams, but with Josh Rosen playing at a high level — not just for a freshman quarterback, but as a Division I quarterback — would could see the first year Bruin continue to impress and that is just what his team needs right now.
With Utah losing to USC this weekend, that opened up the Pac-12 South Division for several teams, most notably, UCLA. If Arizona State loses one more game and the Bruins run the table, then the Pac-12 South is UCLA’s. But that will be a tough task, especially since the two biggest games of the year, at this point, are the Bruins final two games of the season on the road at Utah and at USC.
But Rosen and the Bruins cannot look that far ahead. Right now the focus is all on Colorado. We saw how the Bruins stumbled in a double-overtime win last season so it can be assumed Head Coach Jim Mora wants none of that type of play this weekend. Because of that, Josh Rosen and crew will come out swinging against the cellar dwelling Buffaloes.
We might not see more records broken, but we will surely see a lot big numbers put up by Rosen. Again.
Next: UCLA Returns To The Top 25