UCLA QB Josh Rosen on CTE: If 'all you got was a scholarship, that's [expletive] up'

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:46 p.m. ET

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Since he first burst onto the college football scene with a three-touchdown, 351-yard performance to open his college career last year against Virginia, it seems as though UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen just can’t seem to stay out of the headlines.

For good and bad reasons.

On the “good” side, he led the Bruins to a respectable 8-5 record in his first year as a college quarterback and has shown enough in just a few starts that many already have him locked in as a shoe-in for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. On the flip side there are minor off-the-field distractions that have popped up too, with Rosen complaining about the Bruins’ new Under Armour deal and also wearing a hat that, umm, wasn’t very flattering towards Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump (please note, this one is not suitable for work).

One thing you can certainly say about Rosen is that he doesn’t hold back, and that was again evidenced in a recent sit-down interview with Bleacher Report. He had a ton of fascinating comments, including why the NFL shouldn’t be worried about CTE.

However, it’s not for the reason you think.

From there Rosen added more depth, connecting the issue to college football players.

The answer is fascinating and further proof that Rosen isn’t just one of the most talented athletes in college sports right now, but also one of its most in-depth thinkers as well. To take an issue as seemingly complex as the CTE crisis in football and look further than just the surface level (in this case “’too many hits to the head is a bad thing”) shows that Rosen really isn’t your typical college athlete.

The B/R story explains he isn’t just a guy who accepts common norms but often looks for the “why” behind them and is worth a couple minutes of your free time.