Jerry Neuheisel has been around DeShaun Foster since the former first set foot on the UCLA campus as a quarterback in 2012 and the latter joined then-head coach Jim Mora’s staff as a volunteer assistant.

Neuheisel, now in his first season as the Bruins’ tight ends coach, has spent 10 of the past 12 seasons with the program. Foster, the former star running back and UCLA Athletics Hall of Famer, has been at his alma mater each of those years aside from his first as a full-time assistant while serving as the Texas Tech running backs coach in 2016.

So, if anyone has been around Foster more, it’s Neuheisel.

“I’ve known him my whole life basically as a Bruin and he’s always been somebody who’s always looked out for me,” Neuheisel said Monday after UCLA opened its final week of fall camp. “And he’s always kind of kept me under his wing and, you know, I’ve always trusted him. I think he’s an unbelievable person and one of the best coaches I’ve been around. So, to be able to work for him and to help him try to hopefully take this place to where we know what it can be, I think that’s the exciting thing for both of us.”

Foster hears, sees and reads plenty of what the outside world thinks about his football program.

Some of the projections center around what the Bruins aren't bringing back to Westwood. The defense, and the pass rush, in particular, plays a role in the low expectations that have UCLA near the bottom of a host of Big Ten Conference projections going into the 2024 season. The oddsmakers in Las Vegas have the Bruins’ over/under win total set at 5.5, for what it’s worth.

Then, there are the questions about Foster himself, and specifically his inexperience as someone who got the job despite lacking time as a coordinator, and those questions have only grown after last month's blunder in his opening remarks at the league's media event that was, in essence, his national introduction for those who don't follow the Bruins on a day-to-day basis.

While he's declined to put a win total on what he considers a successful first season, Foster goes into his own version of coach speak and reaches for his three pillars when asked about what he considers to be a successful season.

“As long as my team is playing with discipline, respect and enthusiasm in wins or losses, I’m happy,” Foster said, “because it’s all about how you play the game and that will determine the outcome. So as long as guys are fighting and playing hard and really giving it their all, we should be good.”