One is Catholic, the other Jewish. One was a star linebacker for a private high school, Loyola, the other a star receiver for a public high school, Newbury Park. Both wear the same jersey number at UCLA, No. 20.<\/p>\n
Scott Taylor and Shane Rosenthal became roommates last year and based on their many smiles, witty comeback lines and football success, it\u2019s clear they\u2019ve become best friends and best teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool,\u201d Rosenthal said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just get along really well,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
They share an apartment with two other UCLA players, punter Lennox Miller and defensive back Kuron Jabari.<\/p>\n
Whatever initial concerns or perceived stereotypes they may have had quickly vanished after learning about their similar upbringings, goals and expectations to be good students and good people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hosted him on his official visit,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cHosted him for dinner, took him to Westwood. We have a lot of the same priorities, doing the right things, eating the right food, going to bed at the right time. Little things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Rosenthal: \u201cWe\u2019re on the same timing for everything. He plays defense. I play offense. We\u2019re able to watch film together, talk about football, talk about what he sees from the defense, talk about what I see from the offense and how we go at each other in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor, a 6-foot-4, 241-pound sophomore who\u2019s never seen a steak he didn\u2019t want to eat, \u201cis a damn good cook,\u201d said his grandfather, Bill Thomason, a former Loyola principal and basketball coach. Thomason once bought his grandson Omaha Steaks as a birthday gift.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were so good,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
He sometimes drives home on Sundays to cook steaks for family members. And he eats them, too.<\/p>\n
In the competition for who cleans the room the best, Rosenthal wins in a landslide.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe might be the cleanest guy in the country,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cHe might be an All-American cleaner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Rosenthal: \u201cI definitely feel like I\u2019m the cleanest guy in the apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for washing clothes, both said there are no irons in sight. They learned laundry at home but it appears parents are always welcome to help.<\/p>\n
Taylor is dating a girl who\u2019s Jewish but Rosenthal gets no credit as a matchmaker since they\u2019ve been seeing each other well before Rosenthal arrived. \u201cThere\u2019s usually two Jews in the apartment,\u201d Rosenthal said.<\/p>\n
Taylor has become a key pass rusher for the 4-0 Bruins going into Saturday\u2019s game against Oregon. Rosenthal, also a sophomore, has received playing time as a gunner on punts while being a backup receiver. He\u2019s the state-record holder in high school football with 24 career interceptions, so tackling on special teams is something he does well while waiting for the opportunity to show his receiving skills.<\/p>\n
Taylor has used weight training to build up his body and give himself an NFL-like physical stature. It started back during the pandemic when he was 13. He decided to walk down the street to the local fitness center that was allowing kids to use the equipment for free \u2014 as long as they were 15. Somehow, he convinced them he was 15. When the business started charging him, he got his mom\u2019s credit card, became a paid member and the rest is history. He has the talent to be on par with former UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger.<\/p>\n
He also possesses the ability to comfortably talk in public. He was the only UCLA player chosen to answer questions from the media after Bob Chesney was introduced as head coach last December. On Tuesday, Taylor welcomed a group of middle school students touring Spaulding Field with high-fives and fist-pumps.<\/p>\n
Taylor remembers his first impression of Chesney addressing the team. Like many others, Taylor believes Chesney\u2019s communication skills are legit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great communicator to you guys,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s also a great communicator to us. Everything\u2019s crystal clear about what we\u2019re supposed to do, what our role is since Day 1. He showed up and said, \u2018If you guys choose to stay here\u2019 and … this is before the portal even opened. \u2018If you guys choose to stay here, we\u2019re gonna do something special, so if you choose to stay, be ready to work, be ready to compete.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor said the foundation of strong relationships within the team is important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really special the connection we have,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think that speaks to who we are as a team because it\u2019s really easy to play hard for each other when we\u2019re so close off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Chesney ever decides to host a team barbecue, Taylor is ready to lend his steak-cooking skills, with Rosenthal at his side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One is Catholic, the other Jewish. One was a star linebacker for a private high school, Loyola, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3895,190606,49502,190604,13992,8593,190609,48,52,51,47,50,49,190607,190605,190602,190603,62507,190608,73394,1092],"class_list":["post-488108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-apartment","tag-bill-thomason","tag-bob-chesney","tag-clean-guy","tag-credit","tag-family-member","tag-football-success","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-other-ucla-player","tag-private-high-school","tag-scott-taylor","tag-shane-rosenthal","tag-sophomore","tag-spaulding-field","tag-special-team","tag-ucla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}