Why UCLA hiring DeShaun Foster should excite the Rams

UCLA defensive back Quentin Lake (37) defends in the second half during an NCAA college football game against Utah Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

When UCLA announced that school legend and NFL veteran DeShaun Foster would be the next head coach of the Bruins, many considered it a weak hire by the university. Not me, though. Foster is a perfect fit. Football fans have become too consumed by the idea that a good head coach is made by a good coordinator. A good head coach is a listener and a leader. That’s DeShaun Foster.

Now, why should the Rams take any interest in who UCLA’s head coach is? The reason is that the type of players that UCLA develops aligns directly with the late-round draft strategy of the Rams and those are the types of players Foster will recruit and develop.

Foster and his program have a lot of battles to overcome, especially in their ability to recruit. Knowing UCLA, they will recruit outside of the box. Yes, they’ll compete for the best players in California, but they’ll also go after the three-star kids in the Los Angeles area. They go after the Valley kids, the JUCO players, the Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico players. They’ll pluck talent from all over, they’ll grow some and get rid of others. In the end, there’ll be a whole host of Day 3/UDFA talent to take from the Rams’ backyard.

Foster, a player who grew up in Los Angeles, has a deep-rooted connection to a city that has some of the best high school football players in America –  city that all too often has players fall through the cracks. Those players will be Bruins and could potentially become Rams down the road.

Since 2020, UCLA has had four Day 2 players and eight Day 3 players drafted, alongside a variety of UDFAs. That group includes Quentin Lake, who the Rams drafted in the sixth round in 2022, and Jake Bobo, who played in 14 games for the Seattle Seahawks as a rookie in 2023.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Why UCLA hiring DeShaun Foster should excite the Rams