REPUTATION RESTORATION

By SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER

Aug. 29, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

UCLA’s biggest offensive threat is on the defensive, a new concept.

One of the Bruins’ few proven weapons, he feels as if he has everything to prove, an even newer idea.

All because in the old season, a sprained ankle and a broken offensive line ruined DeShaun Foster’s 1999, not to mention his reputation. The damage has been months in the mending and still is not close to being healed.

Oh, the right ankle is OK. After costing him two full games and limiting him to two carries against Arizona State and Arizona and one against Oregon, eventually reducing his sophomore campaign to only 375 yards in 111 carries, the ankle is fine, thanks to the proper mix of rest and rehabilitation.

The image? That’s not so fine.

Foster is the first to admit it. Yes, it’s crazy, since he didn’t have a bad year, just an injured one, running behind a line that was inexperienced and just as black and blue. But yes, there is need for another recovery.

“I know that maybe a lot of people might have written me off,” he said.

Wasn’t it just yesterday he was the sensation? That was in 1998, when he came from Tustin High and became the first true freshman in five years to lead the Bruins in rushing and the first to gain 100 yards twice, all while sharing time at tailback with Jermaine Lewis and Keith Brown. When he averaged 5.3 yards a carry. When he scored four touchdowns--three rushing, one receiving--against USC.

Then came ‘99, a turnover in the offensive line, a turnover at quarterback--there was no passing game to stretch the defenses--and the ankle that turned over Sept. 25 at Stanford. And there went the season.

Foster had one bright, shining moment--100 yards and two touchdowns against, ironically, the Cardinal, before the real impact of the injury set in--but never more than 69 yards in any other game. He had 59, and zero touchdowns, against USC.

From 673 yards as a freshman to 375 as a sophomore.

From an average of 5.3 yards a carry to 3.4

From a season-best run of 65 yards to a long of 23.

“You just use it as motivation,” Foster said. “It always keeps you going. You always know you have something to prove. I just feel that maybe I had a whole lot of expectations for my sophomore year and I didn’t meet them at all, in any aspect, because I got hurt. I just feel that maybe some people might not have the same expectations for me. But the people that do, I just want to show them I can still do this.

“I’ve had stuff to motivate me. But I’ve never had to go into a season really looking like, ‘I have to do this well.’ But it’s cool. I kind of like it because it’s going to keep me motivated. I’m always going to have something in the back of my mind, that I have to prove something. It’s going to keep me going.”

So he’s playing with a chip on his shoulder?

“That’s basically what it is,” Foster said.

Said Kelly Skipper, who coaches the Bruin running backs, “He had a very successful high school career, but that’s a long time ago. That’s three years ago. Now he’s got much to prove. He’s been coached a lot, so his whole game has changed. Now he knows what it is to be a big-time college football player.

“When he came in as a freshman, we had a lot of experienced players. It was more growing pains [as a sophomore]. We had a whole new team, so he had to grow with that team. He had a couple injuries that kind of lingered on and he wasn’t at full strength, and I think that kind of got him down a little bit. But it’s a new year. A brand new attitude. I think his spirits are very high and he’s got high expectations.”

The attitude is a change. He’s got one. Or at least he’s showing one, something he never did before. In the days of the mild-mannered Foster, he was shy and quiet most everywhere but on the field and in the sanctuary of the locker room.

Now, he’s speaking up, seeing himself as a team leader. And he’s not sparing himself.

“I tell myself all the time what I have to do,” Foster said. “I want to run for at least 100 yards each game. That’s my goal.”

So he is going to have a big year?

“Yeah,” he responded without hesitation.

He is going to gain 1,000 yards?

“Yeah.” Again, no hesitation.

Maybe even 1,300?

“That could happen also.”

This may be a tough week to start the resurgence. Alabama comes to the Rose Bowl on Saturday with eight starters back from the defense that finished second in the country against the run last season, allowing only 75.3 yards a game, and ninth in total defense, at 297.3 yards. The Crimson Tide would have had nine starters back but end Kindal Moorehead, an All-SEC candidate, recently suffered a season-ending Achilles’ injury.

“We’re opening up with Alabama and we were 4-7 last year and I was hurt,” Foster said. “So I really feel like the team and I have something to prove.”

Now comes the chance.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Yearbook

A look at DeShaun Foster’s two seasons at UCLA:

*--*

Year TCB Yds Avg TD 1998 126 673 5.3 10 1999 111 375 3.4 6 Totals 237 1,048 4.4 16

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Rush Hour

Top returning rushers for each Pac-10 team:

Arizona

Leon Callen, 35 carries-183 yards, 1 TD

Arizona State