BREAKING | Brandon Rose Named UMass Starting QB
Transfer quarterback Brandon Rose has won a three-man race to earn the starting job for the Minutemen.
And the winner is…
Brandon Rose.
First-year UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak just announced Rose as the team’s starting quarterback heading into the 2025 season.
Rose, a transfer from Utah, beat out Yale grad transfer Grant Jordan and redshirt freshman AJ Hairston, who played in the Minutemen’s final four games a year ago.
Rose is coming off a Lisfranc injury that he suffered during his only start for the Utes last November against BYU. That injury kept him from practicing during the spring, but he was on campus and took part in as much as he could.
Harasymiak acknowledged Rose probably could have been cleared by the end of spring practice, but the Minutemen didn’t see the wisdom in risking anything at the time.
“We had to hold him back, which he was angry, which is what you want,” Harasymiak said at the start of training camp. “Certainly a guy that's been around, experienced.
“I think he's very comfortable around the pocket. I think he handles the operation extremely well and it was great.”
In both his start against BYU last season and during practices media has been allowed to view so far during camp, Rose has displayed tremendous ability as a true dual-threat quarterback.
The 6-foot-2, 212-pound Rose has some familiarity with first-year UMass offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian from the pair’s time in Salt Lake City last season, although the offense in Amherst will be a bit different.
“He understands techniques I'm coaching and that's the key part,” Bajakian said earlier this camp. “We're a little different than we were at Utah.
“Brandon is familiar with my coaching style. He's familiar with the emphasis we place on processing information. Some of the terminology is quite different, but I can always relate it back to, 'Oh, this is what we did at Utah. This is what we called it at Utah.' That helps him translate a little more quickly.”
A three-star recruit from the Class of 2022 out of California’s Murrieta Valley High School, Rose chose Utah over offers from schools like Northwestern, Arizona State, Colorado, Boise State, Kansas and Nevada.
He threw for over 3,000 yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior at Murrieta Valley.
In his start against BYU, Rose completed 12 of 21 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. He had the Utes positioned to beat then-#9 BYU before he got hurt, but the Cougars made a 44-yard field goal to win 22-21 as time expired.
Hairston and Jordan are expected to provide valuable depth at the position. Both impressed during the spring and throughout the summer.
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