University of Connecticut Athletics
Jay Rose has been Bleeding Blue from the Start
2/17/2020 12:37:00 PM | Football
It's pretty rare for a kid to be able to play for a team that he grew up watching as a fan, but that's exactly what tight end Jay Rose has gotten to do at UConn.
Rose grew up about 45 minutes away from the UConn campus in Southington, and he became a fan of the Huskies at a very young age. He remembers going to games at Rentschler Field during the first Randy Edsall era while wearing Andre Dixon's No. 2 jersey. One game specifically that he remembers seeing was Jasper Howard's final game against Louisville in 2009. He said he remembers how special the atmosphere was with the Rent filled to the max.
So when UConn was the first school to offer Rose a scholarship, it was easy for him to decide to play his college football close to home.
"It's unique," Rose said. "Not many kids get the opportunity to do it, which is why I felt like I had to jump on the opportunity. I got family that can come watch, I got friends that can come watch and more importantly that we can just put our state and where I grew up on the map."
While at Southington High School, Rose was part of back-to-back Connecticut state championships in his sophomore and junior seasons. He was a tight end as a sophomore before moving to quarterback for his junior and senior years. He said playing in a top-notch program like Southington helped prepare him well for college football.
"[Southington has] coaches that have been around and played Division I football, so they know how to prepare you and how to get you ready for things like that," Rose said. "It's tightly run, like we wake up at 5 in the morning in the winter and we work out before school, and that's every day, every week. I mean it shows. We dominated the state in the time I was there. I just think going through things like that really builds you up for the next level."
Rose was brought into UConn as a tight end, but even though he played some in high school, he said it was like learning a new position.
"Even when I played tight end in high school, it's not nearly like what it is in the Division I level," Rose said. "I was more of a receiver honestly … It's a big transition especially [coming from being] quarterback, because I'm doing nothing but throwing the ball and my arm is the most important thing to me at the time. And then you switch and all of a sudden you're going up against the 1% of the 1%, and there are dudes that are very big."
Rose takes his inspiration from Jordan Reed, another Connecticut native who played quarterback in high school before moving to tight end. Reed has been the Washington Redskins' star tight end since 2013, and Rose described his style of play as "unguardable."
After playing almost exclusively on special teams for his first two seasons, Rose became a big part of UConn's offensive attack in 2019. He made 27 catches for 261 yards and two touchdowns in the 11 games he played. Those numbers are likely to increase in his senior season based on how much UConn typically utilizes the tight end position.
"It's a place you wanna be if you're playing tight end, definitely," Rose said. "They show the tight ends love and that's all you can ever ask for. You gotta get down and dirty and then they reward you with a couple of passes here and there. You can't really ask for much more than that."
Rose has a goal to get UConn football back to the level that he loved watching as a little kid, and he believes this group can accomplish that. He said this team is really locked in on making a bowl game this season and they have already started working toward that this spring.
"We need to have accountability within each other, it can't come from the coaches, it's gotta come from the players," Rose said. "I think we're starting to see that more. The atmosphere is really good, the energy is really good. Everyone's got a positive energy, and everyone has the same goal in mind. If you get 100 kids to come in every day and work towards the same goal, then a lot of good things will come from that."
Who knows? Maybe somewhere in the stands this season will be another young Huskies fan who will someday suit up for them like Jay.
