After landing two SEC quarterbacks who happen to share the same last name from the transfer portal in Nico and Madden Iamaleava, it feels like UCLA is positioning themselves as the west coast villain of college football.
Nico hit the portal following a situation that turned messy at Tennessee after he was reportedly seeking more money, and Madden had initially committed to the Bruins before flipping to Arkansas and now appears to be the subject of legal proceedings as Arkansas is set to pursue legal action on buyouts stipulated in NIL contracts recent Razorbacks signees have agreed to.
That essentially prompted a "trade" of sorts, as recent UCLA enrollee Joey Aguilar, who enjoyed a few stellar seasons slinging the rock at Appalachian State, hit the portal soon after Nico's arrival and has since landed in Knoxville with the Vols.
Coming off a 5-7 finish in their debut season as a Big Ten member, the role of the villain seems to be alright with DeShaun Foster as he heads into year two in Westwood.
Asked about the added attention and expectations that have been directed at his program recently during a media availability yesterday, Foster was asked about how he they embrace that as a program moving forward.
"You want to be in conversations. You want to play big time ball. You want to have people that...you want to have haters. You want all of this stuff because it means you're trending in the right direction," Foster shared.
"If you want to play big time ball, you can do that here at UCLA. We've got a quarterback situation that is going to pan out for us and we're just looking forward to it. I mean, when was the last time we had this many people here talking to us," Foster said, scanning the room.
"It's a good buzz for us. Keeping the local kids here - the big time recruits, it lets them know you don't have to go to certain other conferences to be successful or make it to the NFL. You can do it right here in California."