UCLA Football: Rosen named to the Manning Award watchlist

On Thursday, UCLA Football QB Josh Rosen was named to the Manning Award watchlist. With his strong statistical start to the season one can only wonder “what took so long?”.

UCLA Football QB Josh Rosen has been lighting up the scoreboard five games into this season. He has given the Bruins the chance to win every game this season and has led them to 3-2 record overall and 1-1 in PAC-12 play.

The Manning Award is given out to the nation’s top QB as voted upon by the Sugar Bowl committee. It is also the only QB award given out that also takes into account post season play. A guy might have a transcendent bowl game and give him the edge over another QB. Some might argue that you should only count the regular season but if a guy is playing and playing at a high level how are we supposed to ignore that?

Rosen continues to add to his name to a number of high profile watch lists. In addition to being named to the Manning Award watchlist he has also been named to the Walter Camp Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, the Maxwell Award, Davey O’Brien and Rotary Lombardi Award watchlists.

As it stands right now Rosen is leading the nation in passing yards with 2,135 despite being on a bye last week. His 17 touchdown passes are second only to WSU QB Luke Falk‘s 19. He’s done all of this while being the main focus of defenses and with the Bruins having a hard time establishing a consistent run game.

He’s received some solid help from standout TE Caleb Wilson but after his broken foot ended his season, Rosen will need to be at the top of his game . New OC Jedd Fisch has been creative with the receiving talent on this UCLA Football team and knows how to showcase his stud QB.

Next: UCLA Football: Can Jim Mora continue his success against Arizona?

In what might amount to his final college season Rosen is certainly showing the country and the NFL that he has the talent to be the top selection in the 2018 NFL Draft.