Extra Points: Realize his potential

What has been done to Osaar Rasshan is a crime against humanity.

Perhaps that last comment is a little over the top. But at the very least, the handling of Rasshan’s career at UCLA has been puzzling. Don’t blame Rasshan, though.

Rasshan, the former quarterback who was moved to wide receiver before the season, is now back behind center. A string of injuries to Ben Olson and Pat Cowan, as well as walk-on McLeod Bethel-Thompson’s shaky play in the Notre Dame loss, forced Karl Dorrell’s hand. He had to put Rasshan back in the quarterback rotation, just in case.

“It’s my dream, (to be a quarterback), so I’m glad to get another chance to go back at it,” Rasshan said. “I’m healthy, running the system well, picking up things fast. Yeah (I feel comfortable). I’ve been doing this my whole life, except for the last three months.”

Rasshan spent the bye week practicing with the second string unit. On Tuesday, he practiced with the first unit for the first time in his UCLA career. The term “career” is used loosely, because the mismanagement of Rasshan’s talent reflects a lot about the chaotic direction of the UCLA football program.

The redshirt sophomore out of Pomona spent his first two years here toiling away at the bottom of the depth chart as a dual-threat quarterback. In theory, he was a project for the indefinite future, to be refined and possibly step in as Olson’s successor. In practice, he was a warm body on the scout team.

So when Rasshan was switched to wide receiver during the summer, it seemed a sign of two things: 1) the coaching staff had finally recognized that he was such a talented athlete and his skills shouldn’t be going to waste; 2) there was enough depth at quarterback that the coaches felt comfortable moving its third-stringer to another position.

Fair assumptions for you to make. Of course, you’d be wrong.

After UCLA’s first six games, Rasshan hadn’t seen much playing time and hadn’t yet caught a pass. During training camp, Dorrell couldn’t say enough wonderful things about Rasshan’s potential, and even intimated that the new receiver would be worked into the rotation fairly early in the season. But Rasshan suffered a concussion, and was buried in the depth chart and forgotten.

Nobody has been able to explain why Rasshan never got a serious look at wide receiver. Being the smart young man that he is, he gave the stock answer.

“The coaches kind of projected me a little bit (at wide receiver), but the reason I wasn’t getting on the field much was because of a concussion,” he said. “After I recovered, we were already in the swing of week one. I was still foggy and wasn’t 100 percent, and they didn’t want to throw me in there and have me make a mistake.”

There’s a fair amount of truth in that. But if we know one thing, it is that coaches will usually bend over backward to get a good player on the field.

“I made the switch for my team,” Rasshan said. “We go through a lot, and switching positions and adjusting is just a part of being an athlete. It’s what we do, and why we get a scholarship to come here.”

This is not to suggest that there’s a conspiracy to keep Rasshan from playing. But it’s disconcerting that UCLA, a midlevel program that could desperately use some playmakers, has put unnecessary obstacles in his way. Programs that climb the ranks don’t usually do it instantly by recruiting well. They do it by recruiting gifted athletes, and coaching them into better football players.

For now, Rasshan is backing up Cowan, preparing to play. Until that happens, though, Rasshan can sum up his career at UCLA so far rather simply.

“I haven’t played, (but I’m) wanting to play.”

E-mail de Jong at adejong@media.ucla.edu.

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