Rosier's Spring Football Season At Miami Has 'Hypnotic' End
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/AP) — It's rare when a player can excel at multiple sports, especially at a level as high as division one in college.
Malik Rosier is on the football and baseball teams at Miami, which means he has needed help to juggle a demanding spring schedule.
Somedays, a nap between practices is the answer.
Other days, cold towels serve as a quick refresher.
And now there's the hypnosis. No, really.
"It's something you have to try," Rosier said, "to see if you believe in it."
He's a believer now. One day after being hypnotized — a former Miami player named Lenny Moore, who was part of the 1983 national championship team and now is a hypnotherapist displayed his talents for current and former players in a show this weekend — Rosier threw the first touchdown pass of Miami's spring game Saturday.
Both Rosier and starting quarterback Brad Kaaya took part in the hypnosis show, designed in part for some to deal with confidence issues or phobias. In the case of Miami's quarterbacks, they just did it for fun. With them, confidence issues aren't exactly lacking.
"It was a funny experience," Rosier told The Associated Press, as Kaaya stood nearby nodding in agreement. "If it doesn't work, hey, you can say you don't believe in it. If it works, hey, it works."
Miami's defense won the spring game, 54-47 in a unique system that gave points for everything from first downs to three-and-outs to touchdowns and takeaways.
But Rosier was one of the eyecatching performers in the game — even though what he was doing Saturday in no way resembled what Miami expects him to do in certain situations this fall. And after a year where Kaaya got virtually all the snaps for the Hurricanes, a two-QB system of sorts seems to be possible in 2015.
"Malik's had a good spring," Miami coach Al Golden said. "He's balanced both really well. He's been mature. He's made a lot of progress. There's some other things that we can do that benefit him and his style and that's something we're not getting into in this arena here today."
With good reason. Obvious reason, too.
Kaaya is the prototype pro-style quarterback, who isn't afraid of saying that Rosier can do certain things — like be a dual-threat — that aren't in his wheelhouse. It's easy to envision the Hurricanes using Rosier as a change of pace this fall, or a decoy, or even more.
"He's juggling two different calendars right now, football calendar and baseball calendar," Miami offensive coordinator James Coley said. "When he goes full-time in the football, it's going to be fun because he can play, man. He can flat-out throw the football."
Rosier isn't just messing around with baseball, either. He's appeared in only four games for the nationally ranked Hurricanes, but has reached base in four of his six plate appearances and has even connected for a home run.
And on the football field, Kaaya has been duly impressed.
"He's a little change-up for the defense," Kaaya told the AP. "He's more mobile than me, he can do zone reads and all kinds of stuff like that. For now, we'll keep a lot of that a secret, but there's a different side to the offense that we don't usually show."
Spring football is now over, so Rosier — who credits baseball coach Jim Morris for not overly minding the unavoidable schedule conflicts — will be cleared to rejoin the Hurricanes baseball team on a full-time basis when their weekend series at North Carolina is complete.
More naps and cold towels will be in his plans. Someday, maybe more hypnosis, even.
"It's been a good experience," Rosier said. "Everything I've had to do to get to where I'm at, to me, it's worth it."
(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
