UCLA football coach DeShaun Foster took center stage Thursday on the final day of Big Ten Media Days.
The second-year head coach was looking forward to a better result on the podium.
Foster made his Big Ten Media Days debut last year, but the moment did not go over well. He came across as nervous.
With a full season at the helm, Foster came across as well prepared and embraced how his performance at last year’s event turned into a lesson. The coach used part of his time during his opening remarks joking about his media day mishap the year prior and how it worked to the team’s benefit.
“That moment taught me a valuable lesson,” Foster said. “Authenticity resonates more deeply than perfection. Our players saw me being human and it brought us closer together.”
Foster and the team have spent the past year joking about the moment on stage. When the coach took to the field at the Wasserman Football Center for training camp, he was wearing a shirt that read ‘We’re in LA’ — a phrase he had said at 2024’s Media Days — and had a UCLA helmet logo that pinpointed Los Angeles in an outline of the state of California.
“Last year, I stood up here and reminded everyone that UCLA is in L.A., which, looking back, might have been the most obvious geography lesson in Big Ten history,” Foster said. “But we are in L.A. and we’re proud to be in L.A.
“And this year we are ready to show the Big Ten what L.A. football looks like when it’s firing on all cylinders.”
Foster shuffled his coaching staff but the program is aiming to keep up its momentum in recruiting and bringing in talent via the transfer portal.
The Bruins brought in 31 transfers, including 14 who had played high school football in the state of California, including quarterback Nico Iamaleava and his brother Madden.
The 31 transfers is the 10th-most in the FBS.
Reshaping UCLA’s culture
Foster used his first season to help reshape the UCLA football program into the way he wanted it — and remembered it.
Foster was elevated into the head coach role following Chip Kelly’s departure from Westwood to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator.
The former All-American played for the Bruins from 1998 to 2001 and had two stints as an assistant at UCLA. Foster spent seven years as the Bruins’ running backs coach, originally hired by Jim Mora, before taking on the head coaching role in 2024.
With training camp starting next week, Foster is taking the Bruins off-campus to train for the upcoming season in Costa Mesa, California. With Kelly at the helm, UCLA held training camp at the football center on campus. Mora used to take the team to San Bernardino for training camp.
UCLA will use the team’s time off-site to switch the turf practice fields at the Wasserman Football Center to natural grass, which is what the Bruins play on at the Rose Bowl.
Why did Nico Iamaleava transfer to UCLA?
Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava spoke to reporters for the first time since announcing his decision to commit to UCLA on April 20.
“I would say that my decision to leave (Tennessee) was extremely hard and one of the toughest decisions I had to make, but family was the biggest thing to me. A lot think about financial stuff, but it was never that. It was about being close to home with my family and playing at the highest level with my family’s support. With our Samoan culture, we are always together and that was a very important thing to me.”
Iamaleava played football at Warren High School in Downey, California, before spending the past two seasons with the Tennessee Volunteers. He’s expected to be the Bruins’ starting quarterback.
Iamaleava’s brother, Madden, also transferred to UCLA after spending spring camp with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Madden Iamaleava had originally committed to UCLA in June 2024, but it was announced that he signed with the Razorbacks the day after the signing period started. Madden led Warren to an 11-2 record in games he started and an appearance in the CIF-SS Division 3 semifinals in 2023, his first year as a full-time starter.