Quarterback a lonely position for Colorado’s Sefo Liufau at Pac-12 media days

After finishing in the basement of the South Division last season, it wasn’t likely that Colorado would make big waves at Pac-12 media days.

It also didn’t help that the Buffaloes spoke to reporters at noon Friday, the last slot of a two-day event that competed with lunch. While lunch won over most of the attending media at the Hollywood & Highland complex, Colorado did stand out for one significant reason.

Twelve conference teams brought two players each to media days. Yet, Colorado was the only one to bring a quarterback.

“I don’t think it’s weird, everyone just kind of picks a good representative for their team and everyone I met this week are great guys,” Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau said. “They represent their team well and their universities, so I’m just blessed to be able to be here and represent my team.”

There are a lot of reasons why Liufau, a senior, was the only quarterback of the 24 Pac-12 players in Hollywood this week. Teams like to bring upperclassmen. It’s standard procedure to bring an offensive and defensive player, and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey and Oregon running back Royce Freeman were obvious choices for their schools. A lot of programs — including the Ducks, Arizona, California, Arizona State and USC — haven’t named a starting quarterback with camp nearing.

UCLA has the conference’s consensus top quarterback in sophomore Josh Rosen, but he made headlines this off-season with his opinions on politics and the NCAA. Coach Jim Mora assured reporters that Rosen was not part of the UCLA contingent Friday because the Bruins wanted to take two upperclassmen in offensive tackle Conor McDermott and linebacker Jayon Brown.

Still, Liufau standing alone was surprising, if not a statement on the lack of surefire quarterbacks in the conference.

“Sefo was outstanding, individually, and I think that speaks to him that no other quarterback is here except him,” Colorado cornerback Chidobe Aquizue said. “That means that he’s obviously doing something right, or better than other people, because he’s being respected by our coaches and his teammates.”

jesse.dougherty@latimes.com

@dougherty_jesse