UCLA Football: Grading QB Josh Rosen's Debut for Bruins
Josh Rosen almost had the perfect start.
On the first snap of his collegiate career on Saturday, the UCLA true freshman quarterback sold a play-action fake and delivered a beautiful bomb downfield to Kenneth Walker III. Walker had nothing but green grass in front of him when Rosen's pass fell right to him in stride.
But Walker dropped the ball.
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It would've been the kind of first career pass that fans talk about for decades, well after Rosen leaves UCLA for the next level—a special play for a special player.
The 18-year-old Bruin, though, would be more than fine with how the rest of his Saturday debut went.
Rosen lived up to his tremendous hype and then some, completing 28 of his 35 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns in No. 13 UCLA's 34-16 victory over Virginia.
Let's break down Rosen's excellent debut for the Bruins and hand out some grades for his performance:
Pass Accuracy
Rosen completed exactly 80 percent of his passes in his first career game and had zero interceptions. By comparison, former UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley had only three games with that high of a completion percentage in three seasons as a starter.
His ability to get on hot streaks was impressive throughout the game. After missing his opening connection with Walker, Rosen completed his next seven pass attempts.
On the first scoring drive of his career, one that was capped by a four-yard touchdown to Devin Fuller, Rosen went a perfect 5-for-5 for the Bruins.
After an early second-quarter incompletion, Rosen was good on his next eight attempts, including a beautiful touchdown pass to Thomas Duarte that led the junior receiver right into the end zone.
As Sports on Earth's David Ubben noted on Twitter, the few misfires Rosen had throughout the game weren't necessarily bad passes:
Rosen threw back-to-back incompletions only once all game. When the Bruins offense got back on the field after that third-quarter punt, he completed his next nine passes to end a stunning debut.
With plenty of highly touted quarterbacks across the country getting off to slow starts in Week 1—including TCU's Heisman front-runner Trevone Boykin and Auburn's Jeremy Johnson—Rosen was deadly with his precision as a first-time starter.
Grade: A
Pocket Presence
The speed of the college game can be daunting to new starters at quarterback, but Rosen looked cool and collected inside the pocket for the Bruins on Saturday.
"First and foremost, (Rosen) was poised in the pocket today," Fuller said on the Fox telecast after the game. "On a couple of throws early, we could've helped him out more. But he's on his way."
The Virginia defensive front didn't put a ton of pressure on Rosen, who was only sacked once all game for a loss of just one yard.
With all that time in the pocket, Rosen showed excellent maturity by reading the Virginia defense and then picking it apart.
Bleacher Report's Bryan Fischer took special note of how Rosen rarely made a mistake in the pocket and was decisive with his decision-making against the Cavaliers:
When Rosen was forced to scramble and make plays, he delivered. He had a couple of impressive throws on roll-out situations, including his third touchdown pass of the game—one to defensive tackle Kenny Clark:
Rosen's pocket stayed open for most of the afternoon thanks to a strong and experienced UCLA offensive line. But when he faced pressure, it didn't faze him at all.
Grade: A+
Spreading the Field
New quarterbacks can have a tendency to lock onto just one or two top receivers and keep feeding them the ball, no matter what.
Rosen did nothing of the sort Saturday afternoon for the Bruins.
The true freshman completed passes to 11 different receivers, including the aforementioned Clark, in UCLA's defensive star-heavy full house pistol formation.
UCLA's offense is one of the deepest and most experienced in the country. Rosen was the only name in the starting lineup who didn't start last season, and the Bruins returned their top five receivers from Hundley's final campaign.
No one dominated the receiving charts for UCLA on Saturday, as running back Paul Perkins was Rosen's No. 2 target in terms of receptions:
| Devin Fuller | 6 | 44 | 1 |
| Paul Perkins | 5 | 58 | 0 |
| Jordan Payton | 3 | 54 | 0 |
| Thomas Duarte | 2 | 46 | 1 |
| Nate Iese | 2 | 40 | 0 |
| Eldridge Massington | 2 | 31 | 0 |
| Logan Sweet | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| Mossi Johnson | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Darren Andrews | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Kenny Clark | 1 | 3 | 1 |
"I know right now we're like, eight deep at receiver," Fuller said. "We can rotate guys in at any point. Whenever you get tired, another guy can come in and do your job just as good as you can. That's one of the biggest positives right now for this offense."
In order for UCLA to reach its full potential on offense and compete for championships, Rosen has to take full advantage of all of his weapons. He showed he could do that from the first quarter of his debut.
Grade: A+
Commanding the Offense
UCLA head coach Jim Mora was tough on his young quarterback in fall camp. According to Chris Foster of the Los Angeles Times, Mora berated Rosen in front of reporters during an August practice.
But the tough love seemed to work. Mora named Rosen the starter a few days later, and the head coach said he had full confidence in the true freshman heading into Saturday's game:
Rosen didn't suffer from the usual mental mistakes one sees in a freshman—until the third quarter.
The quarterback had a miscommunication with center Jake Brendel on a third-down snap. The ball soared over Rosen's head and put the Bruins into long field-goal range.
As the Bruins missed the field goal, Brendel gave the young signal-caller an earful on the sidelines, per Mike Hiserman of the Los Angeles Times:
But Rosen finished his school record-breaking debut without any more miscues, and the Bruins won the game handily.
The miscommunication on the snap was the only black mark on an otherwise immaculate stat sheet for Rosen.
Moving into the Bruins' next two nonconference games and a road Pac-12 opener at Arizona, Rosen will be able to gel more with his offensive line and limit any more of those mistakes that could prove costly in tighter games with much tougher opponents.
Right now, not even that bad play can take away the shine from a stunning first game for Rosen.
Grade: A
Overall: A+
All stats courtesy of UCLA's Stats Broadcast.
Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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