Can a more confident DeShaun Foster deliver UCLA a winning season?

Las Vegas – It is easier for everything to go according to the script when you have one.

While Deshaun Foster crossed the scene inside a congress center here on Thursday afternoon, the UCLA football coach seized several prepared remarks that helped her sail in a long opening monologue with balance and confidence.

Make fun of his widely mocked performance and was ameu a year ago when he delivered a short unusual address filled with clumsy breaks and a worried smile, journalists gave themselves up to a short recap of Lowlights.

“Last year, I got up here and reminded everyone that the UCLA is in Los Angeles, which, looking back, could have been the most obvious geography lesson in the history of Big Ten,” said Foster. “But you know what important things are clear. We are in Los Angeles, and we are proud to be in Los Angeles this year, we are ready to show Big Ten what football in Los Angeles looks like when he shoots all cylinders.”

Bruins can only hope that their turnaround is as surprising as the transformation of their trainer on stage.

A year ago, when the UCLA tripped at a start of 1-5, “we are” became a freely brandished slogan to ridicule a team that often seemed as lost as its coach while pronouncing its opening remarks in the Lucas oil stadium in Indianapolis.

Rather than fleeing his problems, fed on a ball carrier who found an opening in a wall of defenders. Recruit coach has found his place with a team that has won four of his last six games, shortly missing an opportunity to play in a bowl match.

His off -season was even more impressive. Foster has revised its staff (only two assistants of last season remain) and redoubled its recruitment efforts, leading to a high school class 2026 classified n ° 21 nationally by 247sports.com. Landing Nico Iamaleava of the transfer portal after the spring of dissatisfaction in the quarter of Tennessee generated an immediate buzz.

“We are simply delighted to have a quarter of a playoff, someone who was able to lead his team to the playoffs,” said Foster. “They may not have obtained the result they wanted, but he could still play. He showed how difficult he was in this game. Just being able to get home and be comfortable and be in a familiar environment, I think the sky is the limit. We are delighted with that.”

Although the arrival of Iamaleava is not supposed to pass the Bruins in the running for the title Big Ten, even less the playoffs of university football – the UCLA was chosen to finish 15th in the conference of 18 teams by a media poll carried out by Cleveland.com – There is a recent precedent for teams that make a big leap in the second season of their coach.

The Colorado finished 9-4 last season after finishing 4-8 in the first season of Deion Sanders and Arizona State went 11-3 and did the CFP a year after finishing 3-9 in the first season of Kenny Dillingham. Foster said he hoped that this season is as well as his second in the NFL, when he helped the Caroline Panthers to reach the Super Bowl.

The questions abound, in particular on a defense that loses each key playmaker, while the Bruins are preparing to open the training camp in Costa Mesa on Wednesday. The team will train outside campuses for the first time since training in San Bernardino in 2016 due to the installation of a lawn field outside the Wasserman Football Center.

Certain changes around the program feel more than cosmetics. UCLA sports director Martin Jarmond said Foster’s desire to make wholesale changes in his coache staff after a single season and that the ramp -up is signs that this is an increasing program.

“He has just brought back an atmosphere, a buzz and energy on UCLA football that we have not had since I was here, very honestly,” said Jarmond. “And that’s what you want to see.”

Several hours after talking in the morning, Foster met a small group of journalists based in Los Angeles, standing from a USC logo to block it before taking the first question.

“Have you seen that?” Foster was impancing to a journalist laughing.

When asked what he thought of his opening declaration earlier in the day, Foster clears up in a fun way.

“Do you say that the Grand Slam or the Home Run?” He asked. “I have three players here, so I’m going to put them on the basics, so it was a big slam. But no, I just wanted to come here and grow up.… I was looking forward to that and I was waiting for this opportunity to come back here. ”

A few hours before Foster took a few sips of water and buffer his head with a handkerchief before climbing stairs to the podium inside Mandalay bay, his boss predicted that he would have a better performance than what he did last year.

“I think he’s just more comfortable,” said Jarmond. “You know, everyone is new in something and you are not working on the first time. And so, fortunately, you are not classified on what you say; You are noted on the way you allow yourself and how you direct, and that’s what it has done exceptionally. I mean, the last half of the season, we finished 4-2 – the moment he made in the second half.

“So I think it is excited today. I think it will feel more comfortable because it has already done it. And that is just part of the agreement. But it will be itself and it will be great.”

Foster said that his verbal triples of a year ago taught him a precious lesson.

“Authenticity resonates more deeply than perfection,” he said. “Our players saw me human, and it brought us closer. We’ve been kidding for about a year now. Players know that this same authentic approach is the way we train, recruit and build this program. ”

Upon entering his second season, Foster said he expected a significant improvement not only of his team but also of himself.

“Growth is part of the process, and we are all committed to being better than we were last season,” said Foster. “I know there are questions about our progress, our expectations and in the way we perform in this conference. It’s totally fair. We are here to gain respect, not demand it. However, I can tell you this: my team is ready. They are confident. They are prepared, and they are hungry to introduce themselves and show you and redefine what football UCLA can be.

And with that, Foster announced that he was happy to answer questions, after answering a big on himself.