Pros And Cons Of Rolling With A Talented True Freshman Quarterback

JJ McCarthy has a chance to run the show as a true freshman but there are a lot of layers for Jim Harbaugh to consider when making a decision.

Jim Mora Jr. has coached football at the highest level. He led the Atlanta Falcons to an 11-6 record in his first season at the helm and then returned to the college ranks where he won a conference title in year one. 

While at UCLA he recruited very well and landed arguably the No. 1 player in the country in 2015 in quarterback Josh Rosen. When Rosen arrived on campus as an early enrollee, Coach Mora had a decision to make — start a veteran quarterback who already has some starts under his belt and some pretty good experience in college, or hand the offense over to the uber-talented true freshman and live with the boom-or-bust results. 

Sound familiar?

Mora ultimately ended up going with Rosen and the rest is sort of history. Rosen ended up having a very solid career with the Bruins and got drafted 10th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. Hearing Mora explain how he navigated that process is very interesting and makes you wonder how Jim Harbaugh is doing the same thing with Cade McNamara, Alan Bowman and JJ McCarthy. 

Mora talks about all of that in the video above and, even though the scenarios aren't identical, they're close enough that Mora's recollection of the events provides a lot of insight.