QB Josh Rosen’s season-ending injury just another bad break for UCLA

If true, this doesn’t sound good whatsoever for UCLA’s offense. On Tuesday, Bruin Report Online reported that sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen is likely out for the season. During UCLA’s Week 6 game against Arizona State, Rosen suffered a shoulder sprain late in the game. According to Bruins Report Online, the injury has resulted in nerve damage in Rosen’s shoulder.

The type of injury is a potentially serious one, with very little method to determine if the shoulder will regain healthy nerve activity and the time frame for recovery. Other quarterbacks who have had a similar injury to Rosen’s have had a wide range of recovery results, with some returning within several weeks, and others being out for a more extended period.

Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports also reported on Tuesday that Rosen is expected to be out for the season.

Rosen has missed UCLA’s last two games against Washington State and Utah, both of which the Bruins have lost. UCLA head coach Jim Mora addressed the nerve issues in Rosen’s shoulder last week, but it didn’t sound as if the damage was necessarily season ending.

“The nerve has to start firing again, and it’s really, once it starts firing again, he should be fine. It’s just a matter of when’s it gonna start firing again,” Mora said via Bruins Nation. “He’s been trying to throw, it just hasn’t gotten to a point where he can cut it loose yet.”

In Rosen’s absence, Mora has turned to backup signal caller Mike Fafaul, who has thrown eight touchdowns and six interceptions in the last two games as the starter. Fafaul had just two completions last season behind Rosen.

“Our team has great confidence in Mike. We have to do a better job around Mike: running the football, stopping the run, not giving up kickoff returns like we did,” Mora said last week. “Then we can get those wins we’re looking for.”

However, a huge part of being successful with the type of offense that the Bruins run depends on having Rosen as the quarterback. SB Nation’s Ian Boyd wrote about this concept last summer.

Rosen’s story includes two fairly unique attributes. The first is that Rosen is very intelligent, so much so that his desire to understand things for himself rather than taking coaches at their word was labeled as a potential problem by Trent Dilfer after Rosen’s Elite 11 camp. The same ability to learn that saw him prepare for college with AP credits (in subjects like physics, no less) that will allow him to graduate in three years also shows up in his ability to understand defenses.

The other unique skill Rosen brings to the table is footwork. Although he only ran a 4.99 40-yard dash in the SPARQ test as a recruit, Rosen pulled off a 4.25 shuttle time that compares favorably to many of the DBs he’s working against.

Rosen is excellent at making quick moves in the pocket to buy time to throw. He’s not a scrambler or a guy who should be carrying the ball on designed runs, but his ability to buy time or thwart pass-rushers with a few moves is more than a little valuable. Most interestingly, Rosen’s plus footwork sprang in part from his past as a tennis player.

UCLA still has games remaining against Colorado, USC, and Cal on its schedule, which are certainly not definite Ws without Rosen.