Rose worked in midtown Manhattan last summer with the investment bank Bear Stearns in an attempt to get some real-world experience for his economics concentration. It was his first time in New York City, and Rose says he loved it. With the September 11th terror attacks, he also vividly remembers the weeks before the world changed.

“I had an apartment down [in Lower Manhattan],” Rose says. “I was down there all the time. After work I’d go to a bar with some buddies, right at the base of the World Trade Center.”

When Harvard traveled down to Columbia for its Nov. 3 game, Rose got a chance to see the city he had spent his summer in once again.

“We had to cross the George Washington Bridge, and you can see everything from there,” Rose says. “Usually we goof around on the back of the bus, but crossing the bridge, everyone looked to the left, and everyone was quiet.”

Rose came into camp excited and ready to play, and with good reason. The Crimson’s vaunted offensive line would be stronger this year, and despite losing junior running back Matt Leiszler for the year, the rushing attack was supposed to mean Rose wouldn’t be throwing the ball 45 times a game.

“The coaches have really opened up the offense and suited it to the personnel,” Rose says. “We run a legit pro offense—we change protections, unlike 90 percent of other college teams.”

But one thing that would slowly regress was the Crimson’s backup QB situation. Even though freshmen Ryan Fitzpatrick and Garrett Schires have performed admirably when Rose was hurt, they started way down on the depth chart. Guys like Barry Wahlberg, junior J.C. Harrington and sophomore Conor Black all quit the team.

“I won’t speculate on each individual’s reason to quit. Football’s a big commitment, a lot of hours out of the day, and Harvard’s a great place—a lot of things to do and experiment with, and football’s a big sacrifice,” Rose says. “I’d say every player comes close to quitting sometime in his career.”

Even Rose himself?

“For me it was twice,” Rose says, laughing. “I won’t say when but definitely there were two times when I was just thinking about hanging it up and enjoying the things I couldn’t do—like take classes at 2pm.”

Early on this season it didn’t matter who was behind Rose. He led the team to four straight victories, including wins over Brown and Cornell, and threw six touchdowns without an interception.

Then at home against Princeton, the injuries started again. Rose took a few shots, threw three interceptions and came out of the game. When he returned for a series, he led Harvard to the game-winning score, but pinched a nerve in his neck in the process.

Those three interceptions, by the way, are the only one’s Rose has thrown all year.

Rose thought he would play the next week against Dartmouth instead of Fitzpatrick. But tests were inconclusive, and doctors mentioned a fracture, which would have been devastating. Rose could only watch from the sidelines as Harvard went down 21-0 early.

“At halftime, I was jumping all over the trainers and doctors, telling them nothing was broken and I could play,” Rose says. “They were giving me all these push tests, asking, ‘does it hurt? Does it hurt?’ and I said, ‘No! If it was broken wouldn’t it hurt?’”