Mora Comes Clean About Rosen’s Injury

Coach Mora and players spoke to the media on Monday, giving more information about Josh Rosen, talking about Mike Fafaul, what happened against Utah, and more.

By Robert Bastron@robert_bastron Oct 25, 2016, 8:05am PDT

NCAA Football: Utah at UCLA — Mike Fafaul has started the last two games for the Bruins.

Head coach Jim Mora confirmed to the media on Monday what had been previously suspected to be the injury that has kept Josh Rosen out of the last two games: an injury to his throwing shoulder.

Perhaps someone with a medical degree can translate for the untrained, but Mora inferred that it was a nerve issue in particular.

"The nerve has to start firing again, and it’s really, once it starts firing again, he should be fine. It’s just a matter of when’s it gonna start firing again," Mora said. "He’s been trying to throw, it just hasn’t gotten to a point where he can cut it loose yet."

Mora, admitting his lack of medical knowledge, said that once the nerve "starts firing" again, it should be a short amount of time before Rosen can get back on the field, though there’s no way to know when that would happen, but he hopes—obviously—that that happens pretty soon.

But Mora believes that the Bruins can win if Fafaul continues to play quarterback.

"Our team has great confidence in Mike. We have to do a better job around Mike: running the football, stopping the run, not giving up kickoff returns like we did." Mora said. "Then we can get those wins we’re looking for."

Fafaul, who also spoke to reporters on Monday, said that Josh continues to be frustrated at not being able to play, but that the sophomore has been helpful in giving Fafaul confidence, and talking to him on the sideline about what’s happening on the field.

"He’s done a good job taking the pressure off me, I think, and just helping me play relaxed," Fafaul said. "He just tells me the coverages and what they’re doing out there, because you can only see so much when you’re out there, so he kind of fills in the missing pieces for me, and it’s helped a lot."

Bye, Bye, Bye

Mora doesn’t quite consider the open weekend a full bye week, since the Bruins will have a short week before the Thursday night game in Boulder. But he said the Bruins would take advantage of the extra time.

The team will practice Tuesday through Thursday, before a day off Friday, and then begin focusing on Colorado on with a practice on Saturday.

"Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, are really more just UCLA on UCLA, fundamental work, not specific to Colorado, and a lot of individual work so we can work on fundamentals, and things like that." Mora said.

Banged Up Backfield

Other than Josh, Mora also gave updates on a few other injuries. Nate Starks, who didn’t get any carries on Saturday, has tendonitis in his knee. Soso Jamabo was limited Saturday, working through injuries to his shoulder and his ankle.

Bolu Olorunfunmi played in 81 plays, Mora said, but he’d like to have a more balanced rotation between the three main guys, while also getting playing time for Brandon Stephens, who got in against Utah, and Jalen Starks.

See more from head coach Jim Mora, Mike Fafaul, Jayon Brown, and Scott Quessenberry below. Videos are courtesy of Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the LA Daily News.

HC Jim Mora: