Theo Howard remains on the outside looking in as a receiving option for UCLA

Josh Rosen’s ongoing search for reliable wide receivers has been broad-ranging. 

Fourteen UCLA players caught a pass in a Week 2 win over Nevada-Las Vegas. Twelve logged receptions in the Bruins’ defeat of Brigham Young last Saturday. Kenneth Walker III looked like the go-to guy in UCLA’s season-opening loss to Texas A&M, but has since passed the title of “possible No. 1 receiver” to junior Darren Andrews. 

Nearly every receiving option has been given an opportunity over three weeks. And still, freshman Theo Howard remains on the outside looking in. 

“They say youth is a disease and the only cure is experience,” UCLA wide receivers coach Eric Yarber said after practice Tuesday. Howard “is going to gradually get the experience that he needs. I can’t just throw him out there to the wolves and not let him have success, because I want him to have success and confidence.”

Howard, a four-star recruit from Westlake High School, entered the season as a possible answer to the Bruins’ (2-1) questions at wide receiver.

But he has just one catch for 15 yards through three weeks, and Yarber indicated that the first-year wideout is still adjusting to the speed and physicality of the college game. 

When Howard takes on cornerbacks in one-on-one drills in practice, Yarber sees the playmaker that drew scholarship offers from USC, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Oregon and Texas A&M, among many other power-five programs. In order to be a regular contributor on offense, though, Howard has to be a consistent down-to-down blocker and get comfortable with the pace of Pac-12 football. 

As UCLA prepares to host No. 7 Stanford (2-0) on Saturday, Yarber said he has a “little package” for Howard and not much else. For now he’s boiling the freshman’s needed development into a string of cliches. 

A cluttered mind equals slow feet. Paralysis by analysis. Success breeds confidence. 

“We just to declutter his mind and slow the game down for him, and that’s going to happen,” Yarber said. “If you go back to Jordan Payton, for Jordan Payton the game didn’t slow down for him until about his fifth or sixth game of his freshman season.”

jesse.dougherty@latimes.com

Twitter: @dougherty_jesse