Jim Mora on Josh Rosen: It's OK to have opinions

UCLA coach Jim Mora said he had a “productive” conversation with quarterback Josh Rosen after Rosen’s comments about how football and school can each be like full-time jobs were published Tuesday.

Mora called his quarterback “an incredibly intelligent man” who expresses his opinions “because he is trying to bring attention to some that may be less fortunate or have less than he does. That at times he thinks are maybe taken advantage of.”

“The message to Josh is it’s OK to have opinions,” Mora told Dan Patrick on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Wednesday. “And as a 20-year-old you’re going to have opinions now that you may not have when you’re 22, 23, 30, 50 60. That are maybe different from when you were 13-17. But when you express those opinions in a public forum — he expressed these opinions way back in the spring, this is not a recent interview. This is way back a long time ago. But when you express these opinions you create perceptions, you create controversy. There are those that will agree with you and those that won’t agree with you. And you have to be willing to live with the consequences.”

You can watch Mora’s comments on Rosen in full in the video clip above.

The junior QB told Bleacher Report that he felt football and school conflicted with each other and cited an instance with the scheduling of a class he needed for his major as a reason why.

While his comments certainly were newsworthy given his platform as one of the most high-profile quarterbacks in the country, they aren’t unique. In a 2015 survey, Pac-12 athletes said they can spend 50 hours a week devoted to their sport.

Jim Mora and Josh Rosen. (Getty)
Jim Mora and Josh Rosen. (Getty)

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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