LOS ANGELES — UCLA head football coach DeShaun Foster has a gentle and calm demeanor about him. But even he couldn’t help but crack a slight smile Monday morning when talking about how excited his players are to finally reach game week. “You got to be enthusiastic out here, got to be excited to be able to play a game,” Foster said before practice.
“I’m fired up, I know they are and I’m not holding them back. If they’re going to let it out, let it out.” Foster expressed that enthusiasm even louder once practice got going, clapping and shouting exuberantly as the punt team was letting kicks fly.
It looked as if he had an extra pep in his step as he was moving from one area of the field to the next, monitoring the different individual drills. “Excitement and a need for aggression. He’s stressing, this is week one, we’re really starting to go.
He’s really pressing the tempo for us,” starting right tackle Garrett DiGiorgio said about Foster. “He wants us to come out fast, he wants us to play fast right off the ball. I think that being there as a mentor and a person you can go to but also pushes us as hard as we can is a really good combo.
” With the first game of the season on the horizon, the team’s morning meeting was different than usual. DiGorgio said the coaches and players were eager to finally go over specific game plans for the season opener against Hawai’i on Aug. 31, instead of a general football discussion.
But while the anticipation i.