in his third and final year at ucla, shojima saw action as a reserve center during week 2 against university of hawaii and started in all 13 games as a special teams performer. in the season opener against texas a&m, ucla bruins overcame a 34-point deficit, the largest comeback in school history and the second-most ever in the football bowl subdivision (fbs). after defeating california in their regular season finale, the bruins became bowl-eligible and stayed undefeated at home for the first time since 2005. although bruins were defeated by the kansas state wildcats in the 2017 cactus bowl, shojima once again had the honor of becoming the first japanese player to play in the division i fbs bowl game.