UCLA Football: Is there life after Josh Rosen for the Bruins?

You’ve been preparing yourself for it almost since the first day he stepped on campus whether you knew it or not. Despite him filling UCLA Football fans with hope for the future there was always that pang of trepidation. Anxiety at what would remain when he left.

I’m referring of course to UCLA Football quarterback Josh Rosen. His commitment and arrival on campus created a level of hope that was on par if not greater than Brett “the savior” Hundley. Unlike Brett Hundley, Rosen would play right away but even in his first spring practice you could see what kind of a special player he could become.

Also unlike Hundley, Rosen wasn’t brought in to revive the program, he was brought in to win a national championship. That’s the quality of quarterback that Rosen is. You don’t land a recruit like him without believing that he can take you to the top in his time on campus.

Even as a true freshman he flashed NFL potential consistently. His accuracy, arm strength, mechanics and footwork are essentially how you’d want to draw it up. Of course you can’t forget  about his pure intelligence and high football I.Q. The plan probably sounded a lot like this “You’ll get him as a young player oozing with potential, coach him up and surround him with some talented pieces and a capable defense. Then after a solid freshman campaign and an even better sophomore one, Rosen and his offensive playmakers would take their run at a national championship and likely win one”.

Related Story: UCLA Football: Josh Rosen is standing out and turning heads

All of that added up to was a guy who could and probably would go to the NFL after his junior year. That’s when your fear and anxiety started creeping in.

“If he can get us to a national championship, and then leaves, what’s next?”.

It’s a legitimate question. Sure you landed a blue-chip player and you can land more right? Very few programs are able to pull in consistent blue-chip QBs compared to other positions. And those that do are often competing at an extremely high level. Unless you’re an ace recruiter it’s hard to convince a kid who can play right away at the QB position to sit for any number of years. At other skill positions if you’re good enough, you’ll probably see some time on the field.

So no there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be a drop off to your next QB .That’s to be expected though right? There have to be contingency plans for when you potentially lose a stud player right?

Unfortunately that plan for a national championship never came to fruition.

Even worse, last year we had our worst fears realized. After a couple years of not developing current talent and landing explosive playmakers to help Rosen he was knocked out for the season at ASU. Back-up QB?  former walk-on Mike Fafaul.

Now nothing against Fafaul because he battled game in and game out despite a plague of drops and bad offensive line play doing his best to keep the Bruins in every game. Even so, it was plain to see that Rosen elevated this team in such a way that his absence wasn’t something that could be overcome offensively with that year’s offensive staff.

This year we could be returning to that 2016 nightmare. Against Washington on Saturday, Rosen left the game after taking a pummeling from the Husky defense. It looked like he may have cut a finger on his throwing hand but so far we can’t be sure what the injury or injuries may be. We do know though that it was severe enough that midway through the third he was out of the game and short while later was in street clothes.

His day went from bad to worse with that injury. Throwing only for 93 yards and being sacked four times, Rosen didn’t any help from an anemic running game and a bushel of drops. Might that be the last offensive performance we see him in while he’s still on this UCLA Football team?

Could Rosen’s last offensive contributions to the Bruins be a five yard pass to Theo Howard on third and ten?

Hypothetically, and I’m not speculating on the severity of the injury nor have I heard anything that make me believe it’s season ending at this point, if Rosen were out for any length of time and misses the end of season it’s hard to believe he would return for the 2018 season. He’d likely declare for the 2018 NFL Draft and sign with an agent so that he could prepare for the combine and private workouts.

It’s even more upsetting given how well Rosen had been playing this year under new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch who came over from Michigan as their passing game coordinator. To this point in the season Rosen has thrown for over 2,600 yards and 19 touchdowns with only 8 picks.

Feel that anxiety and depression creeping in back in? Well let’s pump the breaks on it just a bit.

It was the first time since the blowout against Hawaii that we got to see Devon Modster take the field in an offensive capacity and what he showed might just help you take a step back from the edge. Yes Washington pressured him, they batted down balls and they had him running. What they didn’t do was fluster him.

I assumed, and still do assume, that Fisch has a game plan on what he wants to do with Modster in the game. And I still have the same reasoning for why we haven’t seen it despite Modster seeing extended action today. Scouting.

Why show your next opponent any game film you don’t have to? Even if it’s only 1 1/2 quarters of football, why give Utah, ASU, USC or Cal any extra film?

Fisch also demonstrated creative play designs and formations, including one on Rosen’s only TD pass of the afternoon. That type of ingenuity and ability to create plays that give your guys the best chance for success show what type of capable coach Fisch is.

Modster will get the nod against ASU if Rosen can’t go and that’s when we can expect to see more of what Fisch has imagined for him. It wasn’t that he was bad running the offense in generally the same capacity as Rosen would. That’s what I mean about him not being flustered. He was hit, stood in and made throws with pressure in his face including a very nice back shoulder throw to Darren Andrews late in the game.

He may not qualify as blue-chip just yet but Modster is a young, athletic and talented QB with an offensive coordinator who so far has proven himself more than capable.

With another young, incredibly talented QB all but guaranteed to come to the UCLA Football program in Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the Bruins will have a serious QB battle next year. DTR is so talented in fact, that many believe he will win the job as a true freshman. They might believe, dare I say it, that he’s a blue-chip prospect.

Right now the hopes of the UCLA Football season is on life support. After what we saw this program do without him in 2016, there’s only a marginally improved hope that the Bruins will find ways to win football games to finish their season and maybe even get to a bowl. Of course we could find out before Tuesday that Rosen is good to go and that the injuries are just a matter of pain management and he fights through them the rest of the season.

Next: UCLA Football vs. Washington 2017: Post Game Wrap Up

The optimal scenario is more of the latter and also that his injuries weren’t as severe as originally thought.

Still, there must be contingency plans.

Is there life after Rosen for the UCLA Football team? There will be in 2017 if Jedd can teach these Bruins to Fisch.