UCLA's DeShaun Foster Wins the 2025 NFL Draft

UCLA's DeShaun Foster should be walking tall into Big Ten Media Days after five of his players were drafted.

Jul 24, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster walks to the media podium during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Ryan Day, Sherrone Moore, James Franklin, Dan Lanning, Kirk Ferentz, Mike Locksley and DeShaun Foster.

Those are the only Big Ten head coaches to have at least five players drafted in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Day, Franklin, Moore and Lanning. Great coaches who benefit from a massive NIL war chest. Ferentz and Locksley. Established coaches with a history of putting players in the NFL at massive rates.

Foster. A first-time head coach who took over the program late, just went up against the best of the best, proving not only can he hang with the big boys at producing NFL talent, but he can do so without a massive budget or established reputation.

Not only did Foster and his staff have five players selected, but it was decisions he made that helped put them in the positions to get drafted.

Unlike what happened at Michigan, where they had a bunch of selections under a rookie head coach, most of their picks were established under a previous head coach. None of the five Bruins drafted, Carson Schwesinger, Kain Medrano, Oluwafemi Oladejo, Jay Toia and Moliki Matavao, were big-time prospects coming into the season.

So what happened? Foster happened.

He retained Ikaika Malloe, helping smooth the departure from D'Anton Lynn to Malloe. He increased Schwesinger's role in the defense, helping him go from a walk-on and a player who had 12 total tackles in 2023 to an All-American who led the nation in solo tackles at 90 and who registered 130 total tackles in 2024.

Foster oversaw Oladejo's transition from off-ball linebacker to becoming an EDGE player. These changes, changes that former head coach Chip Kelly had nothing to do with, played a pivotal role in both men becoming second-round selections.

Kain Medrano was considered by many a UDFA player heading into the pre-draft process. Then, after Medrano had a standout performance at the Shrine Bowl, people started to look at his film, and his film showed a player who was peaking with potential, whose speed was evident.

But how did the linebackers find such success? Because Jay Toia was eating up double teams. UCLA's defense lost its coordinator, Laiatu Latu, the Murphy brothers, and still produced four draft picks.

While Eric Bieniemy's tenure in Los Angeles may not have worked out, it was his offense that showed teams Moliki Matavao would work in an NFL offense.

Foster has five pieces of evidence to show recruits what UCLA could do for them, and as the Bruins enter a new era with big-time names, the sun shines a brighter football future for Westwood.

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