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UCLA's Josh Rosen does all the things you tell a young quarterback not to do, said Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah.
"He throws into windows that [USC's] Cody Kessler doesn't throw into. He throws into windows that [Cal's] Jared Goff is like, 'That's dangerous.'"
What's "scary," Shah said, is that he often succeeds.
With Rosen's penchant for risk-taking and No. 13 Utah requiring a win Saturday to stay in the Pac-12 South title race, Shah has stressed one message all week. In fact, he said, he and Kyle Whittingham said it in unison when Cory Butler-Byrd failed to make a play on a pass during skeleton work: "Trust what you see!"
"By the time we second-guess ourself, it's already a touchdown," Shah said. "It's a missed tackle. It's a fade. Even if [you're] wrong, go at it 100 percent, and I can live with whatever happens."
Utah's 16 interceptions are tied for fourth in the nation, but 13 of those came during a 6-0 start. It has long been a reliable indicator for bettors that a team with an especially lopsided turnover-ratio is primed for a rise or fall, and 8-2 Utah fits that profile, with 12 fewer turnovers than its opponents during its undefeated run and three more than opponents since.
As Whittingham said after drawing even at two apiece in Tucson: "When we lose the turnover battle, we don't win very often."
What's critical, Shah believes, is that his corners rid themselves of self-doubt.
Read? Yes. React? Yes. Reconsider? No.
In Rosen, Utah faces a true freshman quarterback for whom second thoughts have long been in short supply.
When Rosen had just taken the reins as a sophomore at Bellflower, Calif., powerhouse St. John Bosco, in September 2012, his Braves were pitted against Jordan at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Trailing by six, on fourth down at the Jordan 28, Rosen scrambled and found his tight end on a drag route for the game-winning score — finishing with 277 yards and four touchdowns while dealing Utah's eventual 5A champ its lone loss that season.
Jordan head coach Eric Kjar said he's seen the same Rosen at UCLA this year, just a little bigger, a little stronger.
Rosen also played his worst game this season, and maybe this lifetime, when BYU visited Pasadena, going 11 of 23 for 106 yards and three interceptions — nearly half his season total. Still, he rallied the Bruins past the Cougars with two fourth-quarter scoring drives.
Shah watched him at St. John Bosco, where Shah's nephew and current UCLA safety Jaleel Wadood was among nearly a dozen current FBS players to play alongside Rosen.
He describes Rosen's 70-yard touchdown pass to Darren Andrews in a losing effort against Stanford as "unbelievable," sending the ball 40 yards with a flick of his wrist and hitting Andrews in stride on a skinny seam.
But because Rosen is a freshman, and given the stakes of Saturday's game, Shah suspects he'll revert to "comfortable throws." It's up to Utah's corners, Shah said, to recognize those.
According a statistical profile provided to The Tribune by Pro Football Focus, Rosen favors hitch routes, at an average depth of about 8 yards. Those have accounted for almost a fifth of his passes, and he's completed 80 percent of them for 500 yards. He also has an affinity for post routes and non-screens to his halfback.
PFF grades Rosen as a particularly accurate passer 10 to 19 yards past the line of scrimmage, where he's 51-of-78 overall, and he's thrown for 682 yards between the numbers at that distance.
He's at his best when he gets rid of it quickly — completing 70 percent of his passes when he's in the pocket for 2.5 seconds or less, compared to 42 percent when he holds it longer.
And while Rosen is deadly when he's not pressured, he has a larger-than-average falloff in passer rating when he's under the gun, PFF finds.
Without junior defensive end Hunter Dimick and sophomore defensive tackle Filipo Mokofisi, Utah went sackless in Arizona. What's more, both Whittingham and Shah called UCLA's offensive line the "most athletic" Utah will square off against.
Utah knows it can't allow Rosen to be as comfortable as Anu Solomon was, but the Bruins have surrendered just 11 sacks all season.
UCLA also has receivers who can be as physically dominant as Cayleb Jones was for Arizona.
Jordan Payton (904 yards, four touchdowns, 6-foot-1, 212 pounds) and Thomas Duarte (696 yards, eight touchdowns, 6-foot-3, 225 pounds) are two handfuls, and behind them is senior Devin Fuller, who practiced this week after missing three games with an ankle injury and may be the best route-runner of the bunch, Shah said.
And oh, by the way: The Bruins have a 1,000-yard rusher in senior Paul Perkins. Utah's offense will be without its own 1,000-yard back, Devontae Booker lost for the regular season after meniscus surgery.
The offense might need some help from the defense.
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
UCLA at No. 13 Utah
P At Rice-Eccles Stadium
Kickoff • Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
TV • Ch. 13
Radio • 700 AM
Series history • UCLA leads 10-3
Last meeting • Utah 30, UCLA 28 (Oct. 4, 2014)