Nelson Rosario has emerged as the top big-play threat at wide receiver early in camp.
The 6-foot-5 junior from Oceanside has made several acrobatic catches and found the end zone for the third time in two days during practice Friday.
He was the Bruins’ leading receiver a year ago with 723 yards, including a 152-yard game against Oregon State, but he said he’s looking for more consistency this season. He had two 100-yard receiving games last year but also had two games of zero catches.
“I had a couple of games where I lost focus of what I was trying to do,” he said. “Some games I had big games, some games I had meltdowns. A lot of it was just having my mind in other places. Taking things for granted that it was easy. Now I’m holding on to every ball like its valuable and trying to prevent that.”
Rosario, who also competes for the UCLA track team, leads a group of talented receivers that appears primed to stretch the field in the new pistol offense. Speedy sophomore Randall Carroll is a former state high school champion in the 100 meters and redshirt freshman Ricky Marvray has been impressive in camp too.
“I like the way our receivers are developing,” Rosario said. “I think we’re going to have a pretty dangerous unit.”