Some of Josh Rosen’s first childhood crushes were on the universities he dreamed of attending.
He fell in love with Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale in elementary school without setting foot on campus, because their imagery evoked the Ivy League educations his parents received.
He became infatuated with USC a bit later, drawn by the heady heroics of football stars Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.
By the time he reached middle school, Rosen had discovered what seemed like the perfect blend of sensibilities for a budding quarterback with an intellectual bent. It was Stanford, a school that has produced 32 Nobel laureates and Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett.