Well, it wasn’t the prettiest of starts Wednesday for UCLA first-year head coach DeShaun Foster in his first national Big Ten Conference event at the league’s annual media days.

In football terms, it was the equivalent to a false start.

Foster, who led off Day 2’s press conferences at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, essentially froze within the first minute and six sentences into his opening statement.

“I’m sure you don’t know too much about UCLA, our football program, but we’re in L.A.,” Foster said under the bright lights on stage.

Then, it got awkward, with Foster pausing for the next five seconds as the wheels started to spin and he looked for his next talking point.

“It’s us and USC,” Foster continued. “We, um…”

Four seconds later, a nervous laughter all but acknowledged that Foster is still getting used to the public speaking aspect beyond smaller post-practice media sessions and 1-on-1 interviews he’s handled throughout the offseason.