As the No. 8 UCLA Bruins face a must win Saturday against Stanford, quarterback Brett Hundley’s mind appears to have begun looking toward the future. Hundley, who has thrown for 2,873 yards and 20 touchdowns to just five interceptions, discussed his future during the“Jim Rome Show” and apparently believes this will be his last season as a member of the Bruins.
“The conversation keeps coming up,” Hundley said. “I’ve got my degree. I’ve done everything I wanted to do here. I’ve left something really, truly great, and I feel good.”
After taking a redshirt year in 2011, Hundley technically has another season of NCAA eligibility, but the fourth-year junior believes his future lies within the NFL. Hundley is among the top quarterbacks in a rather weak quarterback pool and could hear his name called early on in the 2015 NFL draft. The Bruins star has seen drastic improvement over his three years of game action, and has seen his draft stock rise. Hundley’s style of play closely resembles that of Oregon’s Marcus Mariota. Mariota is also expected to enter the 2015 draft and could set up a showdown for the top quarterback ranking.
Still, fans must question why Hundley decided to bring up the topic in the midst of the College Football Playoff chase. With the game’s pressure mounting, it seems to be a topic that should have been left for the off-season. Instead, Hundley, a team leader, opened a can of worms facing two key games as the 2014 season draws to a close. If UCLA is able to defeat Stanford today, the Bruins would punch their ticket for the Pac-12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks. Then, the team would need to knock off the Ducks and receive a little help to qualify for the first-ever College Football Playoff.
*Section Photo credit to Stephen Dunn, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Matthew Emmons, USA Today Sports.
