30 under 30: Josh Rosen

Passing the competition

The Jewish quarterback in the modern era of the NFL is a rare breed. There have only been two: Jay Fiedler, a mostly unheralded eight-year veteran, and Sage Rosenfels, a career second-stringer. Not exactly the types to pile up records and invade living rooms with commercial appearances.

That might change soon.

There has never been a Jewish football player with the promise and potential of UCLA’s current starting quarterback, Josh Rosen, who turns 20 in February.

Already a projected top-10 pick in the 2018 NFL draft, Rosen is the son of a Jewish father and Quaker-Christian mother. His father, Charles Rosen, a spine surgeon, was a nationally ranked ice skater who nearly qualified for the Winter Olympics in the 1970s. His mother, Liz Lippincott, is a former journalist who captained the Princeton lacrosse team.

The tall, sandy-haired Southern California teen attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower. Coming out of Bosco, Rosen was the top-ranked passer in the nation’s 2015 high school class, according to Rivals.com, and the second-ranked player overall. He entered training camp at UCLA in the fall of 2015 and won the starting job as a true freshman, beating out incumbent junior Jerry Neuheisel.

After a freshman season that saw him named Pac-12 offensive freshman of the year (60 percent completion percentage, 3,670 yards and 23 touchdowns), Rosen was squarely on the radar of NFL scouts.

The 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound gunslinger has the prototypical mold NFL coaches dream about playing under center: tall enough to see over defenses, a frame with enough bulk to absorb hits, smooth mechanics, a strong and deadly arm, and coolness under fire.

Near the end of his freshman campaign, NFL media analyst Daniel Jeremiah took to Twitter to call Rosen “the most gifted QB in college football.” After last April’s draft in which the Los Angeles Rams took former Cal quarterback Jared Goff with the top overall pick, Rosen’s coach at UCLA, Jim Mora, said that had Rosen been eligible, he would have been selected ahead of Goff. (Players must be three years removed from high school before being eligible to enter the NFL draft.)

“I’m not comparing him to Peyton Manning in the NFL, but at this stage of his career — essentially the same point — he’s the same guy in terms of football intelligence and work ethic,” Mora said in a 2016 Sports Illustrated profile on Rosen. As an assistant coach for the New Orleans Saints in the NFL, Mora got to know Manning well during his high school playing days in the city.

Rosen’s sophomore season kicked off with realistic hopes of a Pac-12 title and Heisman Trophy consideration. However, all that optimism went out the window last October during a game against Arizona State when Rosen suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. The Bruins tumbled to a disappointing 4-8 record while Rosen went through intensive rehab.

The 2017 season is still months away, but Rosen will have a chance to reclaim his place among the top performers in the college ranks. With a big season, Rosen will up his profile just in time to ride some momentum all the way to the grand stage of the 2018 NFL draft, should he choose to forgo a senior season at UCLA.

Whether it’s in 2018 or 2019, Rosen hearing his name called by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on draft day and being handed the reins of an NFL franchise instantly could make him the highest-profile Jewish football star since … well, ever.