UCLA Football: DeShaun Foster Reveals Bruins Will Have 'Scrimmage' to Prepare for Season Opener

Jeremy Hanna | Aug 14, 2024

Jul 24, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

UCLA Football is facing a ton of new variables for their 2024 season.

The Bruins have new staff, most notably head coach DeShaun Foster and offensive coordinator Eric Brieniemy. They are entering a new conference, but they have also solidified their starting quarterback, Ethan Garbers. While he started as QB last year, the position rotated between two other players: Dante Moore and Collin Schlee.

Now, Bruins Football is looking to make a change following the departure of former head coach Chip Kelly. Needless to say, people still have a ton of questions about the new UCLA team, including Foster himself.

During a recent press conference, Foster spoke to the unanswered questions he had about the team, noting that everything comes down to actually playing games.

"It's just games, you know? It's different down here in practice, just getting in a game so I can really see how they deal with adversity," Foster said. "They're handling it well out here on the football field, but during a game, it's a little different, so I just want to see how our temperament is in a game."

Foster then revealed that the team will do something similar to a scrimmage at the Rose Bowl to help simulate a game experience. It will likely occur during training camp.

"It's tough, you know, you can only do much," Foster said. "I can't tackle or [inaudible] so they can't take hits, but you just try to push into that level as much as they can, but they're doing a good job."

"You want to see guys compete and you want to see them–they're learning an offense too, so you have to take that into consideration, but nobody's complaining, they're doing a good job–especially the freshmen, so I'm excited, especially guys that didn't come early in spring, they just got here, they are [inaudible], so the quarterback room, we have a lot of guys but I'm excited. The future is bright."

While this doesn't confirm anything, it will be important for Foster and the Bruins to actually see how the new offensive schemes work. The Big Ten is going to be much more difficult than the Pac-12, and they need to see what works and what doesn't.

Whether the scrimmage happens or not, the Bruins will definitely get a full game experience when they take on the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Aug. 31 at 4:30 p.m. PT.

More UCLA Football: DeShaun Foster Not a Fan Of Losing Old Rivalries by Entering Big Ten