UCLA Football: What is Wrong With Josh Rosen?

UCLA football has had three offensive coordinators in the last three years. That lack of consistency showed in Josh Rosen‘s play against Texas A&M.

As a football coach I’ve seen sophomore slump. However,  Josh Rosen is in year three as an NCAA Division 1 Quarterback and that slump has continued. He ended the first half on a low note, underthrowing a seam route. His wide receiver, Jordan Lasley made a great catch re-adjusting to the football and UCLA just pounded in the touchdown running a fullback dive play from under center like it’s 1996.

Rosen was the top rated pro style quarterback in the 2015 signing class. He was featured in Bruce Feldman’s, “QB: The Making of The Modern Quarterback.” Rosen was portrayed as cocky, arrogant, un-coachable because of his high IQ and country club lifestyle. He’s a tennis guy. That’s not quite the ‘rising up from nothing’ story we love to hear. It’s not the ‘my dad was a high school coach’ story like Brett Favre. Rosen’s parents were a journalist and a spine surgeon.

The Mazzone year

Year one saw Rosen coached by Noel Mazzone, the N-Zone guru who is now the Offensive Coordinator at Texas A&M. Noel and his nearcult following of cronies that hawk his system (and damn it’s a great system I’ve stolen so much from for my playbook) at coaching clinics followed him from LA to College Station. that nicluded his son Taylor Mazzone. Mazzone’s system is quite simple- they thrive in one-word tags that we saw Gruden rip Cam Newton (yes, NFL MVP and Super Bowl runner-up QB Cam Newton) on his show.

Mazzone creates a simple playbook with easy reads built on zone blocking from his offensive line and. Then he run pass options from his skill guys. It’s easy for the quarterback to run the N-Zone playbook and Rosen thrived in it as a freshman. It was similar to his high school offense, but also added the pre-determined reads via the RPO game that made it an easy transition.

Rosen threw for 3,600+ yards and 23 touchdowns as an eighteen year old. UCLA still had a bright star at that point and Jim Mora Jr. wasn’t considered the king of the hot seat.

Kennedy Polamalu takes over

In 2016, Mazzone and his crew had moved on to the Aggies and Kennedy Polamalu took over as offensive coordinator. Kennedy was more known for a “pro style” offense. He’d spent the bulk of his time coaching at UCLA, and then at USC under Pete Carroll and Lane Kiffin.

Kennedy is related to Rey Maualuga, Deuce Lutui and Troy Polamalu– all NFL starters. The complete change in philosophy and terminology saw a rough transition for Rosen. He was injured after six games and finished with 19,00 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. Rosen struggled as he felt a constant pass rush and UCLA was struggling as a whole.

And now it’s Jedd Fisch

In 2017, things looked brighter with the hiring of offensive coordinator and quarterback guru Jedd Fisch. He was a massive upgrade over Kennedy having coached quarterbacks under Pete Carroll in Seattle. He went on to the Miami Hurricanes and then guided Blake Bortles to his best year in Jacksonville before heading back to college to work under Jim Harbaugh.

Fisch was pivotal in working with Jake Rudock at Michigan and turning the former Iowa transfer into a bowl winner. If he can get that much from Stephen Morris, Bortles and Rudock he must be able to succeed with a talent like Josh Rosen… right?

Three keys to building a successful QB:

1. Don’t put him in the position to fail
2. Don’t yell at him for things you haven’t taught
3. Don’t assume he has the passion for football that you have

It’s hard to say that Jim Mora hasn’t violated the three principles above. Rosen, having three offensive coordinators, is in a position to fail. Let’s think about this for a minute. That’s three voices, three sets of rules and three terminologies for a 20 year old kid to digest. As a player you learn drills, technique, footwork, reads and with every coach you learn it again but different.

If you’ve seen Mora coach, you know Rosen is getting yelled at for things that Jim Mora doesn’t even understand. Kennedy Polamalu was known as a yeller as well. A kid like Rosen needs a mentor, not a drill sergeant. That’s why the N-Zone guys got so much out of Rosen. They convince you to do it their way and then it works. It’s the offense version of Jim Jones or Richard Wayne Gary. N-Zone fans drink the Kool-aid and love it. Kennedy is now coaching running backs in Minnesota. Fisch is a great coach but it’s a short window to make Rosen great.

You can’t assume a twenty year old loves football the way you do as a grown man doing this for a career. Josh Rosen has explicitly said he wants to be a student AND an athlete and we fans know that’s not possible. He knows it’s not possible. Not many people understand Josh Rosen. It’s not that he doesn’t love football, he just has the awareness to know he doesn’t have the time to love it as much as his coaches who are paid a hell of a lot more than he is to love it.

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As I watch Josh Rosen get battered on my TV screen I feel for him. He’s on his third offensive coordinator under a terrible head coach that doesn’t understand him or offensive football. UCLA is a lost brand with a lame duck coach. Rosen will leave early and UCLA will be Chip Kelly‘s next job. I hope everyone is happy.