UCLA QB Josh Rosen declares for the 2018 NFL draft

UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen is going to the NFL.

The junior made it official on his Twitter account Wednesday evening. Rosen could be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft by the Cleveland Browns.

“I especially want to thank my teammates,” part of Rosen’s statement said. “I wish we had won more games but friendships were forged and memories were made that will last a lifetime. They are my best friends — I love them and wouldn’t have chosen any others to go into battle with each and every week. It pains me to leave these guys but I know they wouldn’t let me come back and pass up this opportunity to chase my dream.”

Rosen missed time in 2017 because of concussions. He first suffered a concussion against Washington and missed the second half of the game. He didn’t travel to Utah the following week. He played in UCLA’s season finale against Cal but the team said he wasn’t medically cleared to play against Kansas State in the Cactus Bowl because of a concussion.

He made headlines off the field over the summer when he said that playing football and going to school was like trying to balance two full-time jobs. While he drew some unnecessary criticism for the remark, he was correct in outlining the academic sacrifices necessary to balance classes and football commitments.

Rosen was 282-451 passing for 3,717 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2017. He posted the highest completion percentage of his career in 2017, though UCLA finished the season 6-7. The Bruins were 18-20 over Rosen’s three years at the school, though that’s a bit misleading. Rosen missed a significant portion of 2016 because of a shoulder injury and the Bruins’ run game has struggled over the past two seasons.

A rumor emerged in December that Rosen could stay in school for his senior season if the Browns had the No. 1 overall pick. That clearly didn’t happen. Rosen leads a quarterback draft class that includes Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield and now USC’s Sam Darnold, who declared for the draft less than an hour after Rosen.

Rosen’s departure means he won’t play for new UCLA coach Chip Kelly. The former NFL and Oregon coach was hired in December after Jim Mora was fired with one game to go in the regular season. Mora was in his sixth year at UCLA and recruited Rosen to the school in 2015. Rosen was the No. 1 quarterback in the class of 2015 and the No. 2 high school player overall according to Rivals.

That freshman season Rosen took the college football world by storm with a hot tub in his dorm room.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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