PHOENIX — The play becomes more and more poetic as it falls deeper into the memory vault of Josh Rosen’s career. His first collegiate snap, a play-action pass in the Rose Bowl against Virginia. A beautiful 60-yard toss. A head-scratching drop.

The moment could later be used to illustrate any number of miscues that characterize Rosen’s tenure at UCLA thus far.

This may be the end for Rosen in Powderkeg Blue. The star junior quarterback is projected to be a top pick in April’s 2018 NFL Draft, although he has yet to officially decide on whether to forgo his senior year. He may not even play in what could be his final UCLA game as the medical staff will decide if he can pass concussion protocol in time for the Cactus Bowl against Kansas State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT.

If this is the end, Rosen will finish as an undeniable talent who deserved better at UCLA: a better career, a better supporting cast, a better record.

But he is also better for it.

“Some people criticize my college decision but I think they’re foolish because I would never have gone anywhere else even if we would have lost every single game in college,” Rosen said. “I love the guys I’ve played with and I loved my experience here.”

Rosen has learned to cherish the memories of the 6 a.m. workouts and the friendships he’s made. He’ll be the first to say he wishes he could have brought more wins to Westwood during the past three years, the way he was expected to as the top quarterback in the country out of high school, but conversations with former UCLA quarterbacks have helped him put things in perspective.

He speaks with his predecessor Brett Hundley, now with the Green Bay Packers, Patrick Cowan, who works in fundraising at UCLA, and Troy Aikman, who played a role in bringing Chip Kelly to UCLA for next season. They stress that time has diminished many on-the-field memories.

“You’re not going to be able to distinguish a team from 1976 to 1977,” Rosen said, “so maybe in 30 years, you’re not going to be able to distinguish a team from 2014, ‘15, ‘16 or ’17.”

Bad timing

So far, from 2015-17, the Bruins have gone 8-5, 4-8 and 6-6 pending the Cactus Bowl result. Rosen missed six games of his sophomore year due to a shoulder injury, and currently has a 17-13 record as a starter.

It’s not exactly the mark that stacks up well with the UCLA greats.

“It’s a little bit unfair how we judge guys. I’ll judge Josh Rosen as one of the most talented quarterbacks we’ve ever had (at UCLA),” said Wayne Cook, who played the position at UCLA from 1991-94 and is now the sideline reporter for the team’s radio broadcasts. “I think it’s a bummer we didn’t win more games during this era, but knowing what I know about football, that should not fall entirely on his shoulders.”

The Bruins have twice had rushing defenses ranked in the bottom half of the country in the past three seasons. This year, it’s reached unprecedented lows with 3,392 rushing yards allowed through 12 games, already the most for a season by a wide margin.

The one year the defense did well, the offense was going through a historically bad upheaval and had the second-worst rushing offense in the country. The offensive line that was poorly suited for the system failed to effectively block in both the run and passing game. Rosen couldn’t make it past the first half of the year healthy and would return to his third offense in as many years this season.

“Josh was largely an elite quarterback we had for three years,” former UCLA quarterback David Norrie said, “I just don’t think he had the coaches and the team around him overall for UCLA to excel.”

Even with an abysmal defense, Rosen willed the Bruins to bowl eligibility despite losing one of his best receiving targets in the fifth game of the year. The offensive line finally jelled under first-year offensive line coach Hank Fraley. The pairing of Rosen and offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch yielded a quick turnaround and the former five-star quarterback, despite missing nearly eight full quarters due to two separate concussions, has already set UCLA’s single-season passing record with 3,756 yards.

Yet when defensive lineman Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, who played with Rosen at St. John Bosco, sat with the quarterback and their teammates in the players’ lounge in the Wasserman Football Center recently and saw an ad for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, he felt a tinge of sorrow when he didn’t see Rosen’s face flash across the screen.

“Numbers and stats don’t lie,” Tuioti-Mariner said. “So I definitely think he should have been up there, but I feel like it’s based on our wins.”

The quarterback club

A close-knit group of former UCLA quarterbacks, which includes Cook, Norrie and ESPN radio analyst Tom Ramsey, who will be calling Tuesday’s Cactus Bowl, is not only awed by Rosen’s numbers, but by the progression he’s made on and off the field. The touch on his deep ball has improved. His footwork is even more polished. His social media profile has been low this year, moving further away from the freshman hot tub and sophomore golf trip.

“I wish him nothing but the best because all the former quarterbacks who watch him play at UCLA, they recognize that he’s very gifted,” said Norrie, who played at UCLA from 1982-85 and is now an analyst on ESPN. “I talk about his arm, but he’s got this wonderful mobility and he’s obviously a very intelligent kid, so he has the entire tool box. Josh can go as far as he wants to go with the tool box that he has both physically and mentally.”

Whether Rosen enters the draft this year or next, he will immediately become the next great hope of a franchise looking for its transformative quarterback. He already tried to fill that role for a UCLA program still thirsting for its first conference championship since 1998. He understands the burden of the position that shoulders too much blame and garners too much glory.

He also wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I would never be able to play any other position because if the game is on the line, I couldn’t imagine being on the field and having there be a chance that I don’t directly affect the play,” Rosen said. “I want it to be my fault we win or lose.”

Although he wants it to be his fault, at UCLA, it hasn’t always been.