On Friday afternoon, the Las Vegas Raiders hired UCLA football running backs coach, DeShaun Foster to be their new running backs coach. Foster has been with the Bruins since 2012, save for 2016 in which he coached for Texas Tech. He has been the running backs coach since 2017 and also served in an administrative role as UCLA football’s director of player development and high school relations
DeShaun Foster and UCLA Football
Foster graduated from Tustin High School in Southern California and attended UCLA where he played running back for the Bruins from 1998 to 2001. Foster is currently the 5th leading rusher in Bruins history. He was drafted in the second round by the Carolina Panthers where he played for six seasons. He finished his career with a one-year stint with the San Francisco 49ers in 2008.
In his time coaching with UCLA football, he helped develop Bruin legends like Zach Charbonnet, and Joshua Kelley. Both are among the top 15 UCLA rushers of all time. Charbonnet is a great example of just how important Foster’s coaching was in his improvement. Charbonnet played two seasons at Michigan before coming to UCLA Football. After joining the Bruins, his numbers exploded. His yards per carry went from 4.9 yards per carry to 5.6 yards then 7 yards per carry in his senior season. He was also used more prominently in the passing game.
Foster is also one of the few coaches that survived the transition from Jim Mora to Chip Kelly.
Foster and the Raiders
With the Raiders, Foster gets a dirth of running backs to work with. They currently have six on the roster, seven if you include full-back Jakob Johnson. Their star running Josh Jacobs is coming off his worst season after posting just 3.5 yards per carry.
He will also play under newly minted Raiders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. Kingsbury is known to be a pass-first offensive mind. Only once in four years in the NFL did he have a rusher in the top 10 of attempts in the seasons (2020). So Foster has his work cut out for him in his new gig.