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FOSTER'S PLACE IN THE RECORD BOOKS Senior running back DeShaun Foster is the backbone of the UCLA offencs this year. If the Bruins expect a successful season, Foster needs to carry them there. UCLA Career Rushing Leaders   Years Carries Total Yards Avg 1. Gaston Green 1984-87 708 3884 5.27 2. Freeman McNeil 1977-80 605 3297 5.28 3. Karim Abdul-Jabbar 1992-95 608 3341 5.23 4. Wendel Tyler 1973-76 527 3240 6.04 5. Skip Hicks 1993-94, 96-97 638 3373 4.92   11. DeShaun Foster 1998- 506 2258 4.12 UCLA All-Time Touchdown List   TD Pts 1. Skip Hicks, 1993-97 55 330 2. Gaston Green, 1984-87 40 248 3. Gary Beban 1965-67 35 214 DeShaun Foster, 1998- 31 188 SOURCE: UCLA Sports Information Original graphic by TIMOTHY NGO/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web adaptation by CHRISTINE TAN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

  KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

By Joshua Mason

Daily Bruin Staff

The one certainty about college football is that a season can change for better or worse at the drop of a hat.

Just ask DeShaun Foster.

Three games into last season, he was a leading Heisman Trophy candidate after rushing for 422 yards and scoring six touchdowns in front of national television audiences. His 42-carry, 180-yard performance against then-No. 3 Alabama forced talk in Westwood to suddenly center on hopes for a Bowl Championship Series berth – not to mention Foster striking that infamous Heisman pose.

But it all came crashing down for Foster and the Bruins when he sustained a fractured third metacarpal bone in his right hand during the team’s fifth game of the season against Arizona State. It was Foster’s third significant injury in three years, one that would weigh heavily on the team’s mediocre 6-6 season finish, and Foster’s ultimate decision to return to UCLA for his senior year.

Ground Production If the Bruins hope to compete for a BCS berth, they'll need Foster to be at full strength for the entire season. SOURCE: UCLA Sports info Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by REX LORENZO/Daily Bruin

“I know there are a lot of people out there that think I’m injury prone, so I want to finish this season for real,” Foster said. “I know what I can do out there, and I know that people around here know what I can do.”

Foster has always been a no-nonsense type of player, but there has been a change in the senior running back of late. Whether you call it maturity or a sense of urgency, Foster has pushed himself over the summer to increase both his size and his quickness.

In addition to the normal team workouts over the summer, Foster worked out with teammates Brian Poli-Dixon, Bryan Fletcher and Stephen Sua three to four times a week to improve his already daunting breakaway speed.

“DeShaun knows that it’s his last year, and he has been really dedicated with his training,” said sophomore Akil Harris, Foster’s backup and roommate this summer. “I saw a different mental approach to his summer and the coming season. He knows that this is it and is preparing to do what he has to do to go to the next level.”

In 1998, it was a sprained knee that limited his action as a freshman. In 1999, a high sprain of his right ankle hindered Foster for most of the season. And last season, despite finishing with an impressive 1,115 yards rushing and being named a first-team All Pac-10 selection, it was the broken hand that kept Foster from achieving much loftier goals.

Despite only missing two games, Foster was limited the entire second half of the season because he was forced to wear a soft cast on his right hand. The cast cost him the ability to carry the ball in his right arm, catch the ball effectively and flaunt the patented straight-arm moves Foster had been using since he was a kid.

“The straight-arm is such an important aspect of my game,” Foster said. “When I’m turning corners its just easier to knock a defender down than it is to make a hard cut.”

Whether good or bad, the consequence of Foster’s misfortunes in past years is less national exposure than would be expected of a top-tier Heisman contender. While Oregon and Oregon State boosters have respectively launched huge preseason campaigns for Joey Harrington and Ken Simonton, talk of Foster’s candidacy has been rather quiet thus far.

“DeShaun’s probably in the best shape he’s ever been in,” said UCLA offensive coordinator and former running backs coach Kelly Skipper. “His production and how we do as a team will justify his place in the Heisman race more than anything. As a program, we feel that actions speak louder than words.”

One advantage that Foster possesses over the other Pac-10 contenders is the fact that he was a freshman when former Bruin quarterback Cade McNown made his 1998 visit to the Downtown Athletic Club.

“What I learned from Cade’s campaign was to always talk to the media, play your cards right, and lead your team to victory,” Foster said. “He showed on the field how to win games, and that’s really what I want to do. If the Heisman comes, it comes, but right now I’m just trying to win games.”

Gone from Westwood is Freddie Mitchell’s fast-talking swagger. Now it’s Foster’s “talk is cheap” mentality that seemingly defines the 2001 Bruins and their focus this season.