Foster Looking for Happy Returns

DeShaun Foster, waiting his turn at tailback, becomes full time at something Saturday.

The season-ending knee injury to Freddie Mitchell, suffered early in the last game, makes the heralded freshman the No. 1 return man against Washington State at the Rose Bowl. This comes even though Foster had never handled punts, even in high school, before taking one for 15 yards on Sept. 19 at Houston.

“I looked up there,” he said of the return. “I just wanted to catch the ball, to hold on to it and keep my elbows in.”

Foster is also one of the two deep men on kickoff returns, having averaged 22.3 yards in three opportunities, behind Mitchell’s pace of 31.3 yards in four tries. The other man on kickoffs is Jermaine Lewis, despite also being the starting tailback.

“Just like running the ball,” Lewis said.

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Mike Grieb and Tod McBride were selected as captains for the Washington State game, joining season-long choices Cade McNown and Larry Atkins. . . . Washington State players are wearing the initials LB on their helmets to honor the memory of Leon Bender, an All-Pacific 10 defensive linemen last season who died in May. The Cougars have also retired his uniform No. 91. . . . Induction ceremonies for the UCLA Hall of Fame will be held before Saturday’s game in an invitation-only affair at the Brookside clubhouse, but the new inductees will be saluted at halftime. That includes Florence Griffith-Joyner, selected for enshrinement before her death.