AMHERST — The wait is over. The UMass football team has a starting quarterback.
After practice on Monday morning at McGuirk Alumni Stadium, first-year Minutemen head coach Joe Harasymiak addressed the media and dropped the news UMass fans have been waiting to hear all offseason.
It’ll be Utah transfer and redshirt junior Brandon Rose taking the field as QB1 for the Minutemen’s season opener against Temple on Aug. 30. Rose beat out Yale senior transfer Grant Jordan and in-house redshirt freshman AJ Hairston for the job. Harasymiak said he held individual meetings with each quarterback on Sunday before informing the team of his decision.
“We’re going to name Brandon Rose our starting quarterback,” Harasymiak said. “I met with the three quarterbacks, talked to the offense about it, and we’re going to progress that way. We thought it was time. Myself, [offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian], [assistant quarterbacks coach Drew Belcher], we’ve had 16 practices of data. And listen, it was hard. It was certainly a hard decision. Grant and AJ have done a great job… Now it gets everyone settled, and everyone around can start working with the same people. I thought it was time to do that.”
Rose emerged as the favorite to win the job almost immediately after stepping onto the field on July 30 — the first time doing so since arriving in Amherst. He missed all of spring practice rehabbing a shoulder injury, but he didn’t seem to miss a step whatsoever.
A year ago, Rose appeared in three games at Utah, most notably throwing for 112 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 12-for-21 passing against nationally-ranked No. 9 BYU in his lone start of the season. He would not play another game as an injury kept him sidelined the remainder of 2024.
When Bajakian took the offensive coordinator job at UMass, Rose soon followed despite Hairston and Jordan occupying the QB room. Although Harasymiak didn’t say it, Rose’s relationship with Bajakian likely played a role in the California native getting tabbed QB1. He’s already familiar with the offense and how Bajakian operates, and he clearly has the skills to go along with it.
Rose seems to be the no-brainer option.
“We feel like Brandon, right now, gives us the best opportunity to operate what we want to do and take the next step forward as an offense.”
UMass hc joe Harasymiak
“First and foremost, he’s a quarterback who stays in the moment,” Harasymiak said. “He takes care of the ball, and I think the confidence that he exudes — and now with the decision being made — it kind of lets the whole entire offense settle down. The even reps were great throughout the competition, but it also doesn’t allow for guys to work together and keep going… I am confident in all three, it’s just at the end of the day these are the hard decisions we have to make. There can only be one quarterback. We feel like Brandon right now gives us the best opportunity to operate what we want to do and take the next step forward as an offense.”
Harasymiak said he has yet to come to a decision on who will back up Rose and who will slide down to the third-string spot. The next week of practice will determine that.
He also noted that the way both Hairston and Jordan came out and practiced on Monday was exactly what he had hoped to see from them. A college-aged player’s response to learning he didn’t win the starting job can go one of two ways: pout and leave, or face the adversity and grind through it. The two backups are choosing the latter, at least so far.
“It was close,” Harasymiak said. “It was a hard decision… For me, with depth-chart decisions, they should be angry, they should be pissed. I’m happy that they are. They should be. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think people get afraid of those hard conversations. If a guy just accepts it, that actually worries me a little bit. Now it’s about their response. When you get ready to play, you’re either prepared or you’re surprised. If you’re a two on the depth chart, you’re one play away. If you go in surprised, it never works out good. So we got to prepare the right way and it’s about taking the next step.”
Kickoff for UMass’ first game is at 3:30 p.m. at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.