Rosen: 'Raise the SAT requirement at Alabama and see what kind of team they have'

Josh Rosen spent much of last season recovering from a shoulder injury, but that doesn't mean he had more time for his studies.

In a Q-and-A with Bleacher Report's Matt Hayes, the UCLA quarterback explained the struggles of balancing academics and Division I football

"Don't get me started," Rosen said. "I love school, but it's hard. It's cool because we're learning more applicable stuff in my major (economics) - not just the prerequisite stuff that's designed to filter out people. But football really dents my ability to take some classes that I need. There are a bunch of classes that are only offered one time. There was a class this spring I had to take, but there was a conflict with spring football ..."

Rosen was then asked if football takes precedence over school.

"I didn't say that, you did," he said, laughing. "Look, football and school don't go together. They just don't. Trying to do both is like trying to do two full-time jobs. There are guys who have no business being in school, but they're here because this is the path to the NFL. There's no other way. Then there's the other side that says raise the SAT eligibility requirements. OK, raise the SAT requirement at Alabama and see what kind of team they have. You lose athletes and then the product on the field suffers."

There's a good chance the junior will be a first-round pick in next year's NFL draft, but many of his peers won't be so lucky. Rosen believes, based on the money schools are making off football, they should be doing more to help players off the field.

"Any time any player puts into school will take away from the time they could put into football," he said. "They don't realize that they're getting screwed until it's too late. You have a bunch of people at the universities who are supposed to help you out, and they're more interested in helping you stay eligible. At some point, universities have to do more to prepare players for university life and help them succeed beyond football. There's so much money being made in this sport. It's a crime to not do everything you can to help the people who are making it for those who are spending it."