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Asiantii Woulard was arguably the most-anticipated USF recruiting commitment ever, but his decommitment and then enrollment at UCLA was a metadrama that seemed to drag out forever. The 2012 Elite 11 QB Camp MVP got a lot of TV time on ESPN via a reality show documenting the camp, and the excitement USF fans felt for him made his signing with the Bruins one of the biggest recruiting letdowns in Bulls history.
Until now. Maybe.
Woulard has previously indicated he will transfer from UCLA, but the brush fire that he might be heading back to Florida and closer to his Winter Park home started here:
Asiantii Woulard @Asiantii2_ 4merly UCLA set 2 transfer 2 USF @USFFootball pic.twitter.com/guph9ICX7u
— JuCo Football Forer (@JuCoFootballACE) June 19, 2015
I saw the retweet from @ThatUSFSwag, so I decided to start following up:
We’re speaking with people presently saying there’s something here. He’s had contact with USF. https://t.co/hywlcQ2LBW
— Collin Sherwin (@USFCollin) June 22, 2015
But then the Tampa Bay Times Joey Knight chimed in with this:
The preliminary reports are accurate: Wheels are in motion for QB Asiantii Woulard to transfer from UCLA to...drumroll...USF
— Joey Knight (@TBTimes_Bulls) June 22, 2015
Which was countered by this from Josh Newberg at Bulls247:
Fmr UCLA QB Asiantii Woulard denies to me that he's transferring to USF. Says he's met with a couple schools and hasn't made any decision.
— Josh Newberg (@joshnewberg247) June 22, 2015
But he also said this:
I still think Woulard ends up at USF.
— Josh Newberg (@joshnewberg247) June 22, 2015
And then Asiantii himself chimed in with this:
What I've learned over time is, don't say ANYTHING to ANYBODY unless you don't mind it being repeated.
— Asiantii Woulard (@Asiantii2_) June 22, 2015
NOTE: We won't even get into Diddy getting arrested for assault with a deadly weapon while defending his son to an as-yet-unnamed UCLA assistant football coach today. And his son coincidentally now wears Asiantii's old number!
Diddy arrested for assaulting UCLA football coach who yelled at his son during practice http://t.co/EYrzVz5mAX pic.twitter.com/x1ZBmukJ6T
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) June 22, 2015
So that's all the publicly available information at this time. USF hasn't confirmed anything on the record, and wouldn't be able to until a scholarship agreement was signed.
This is obviously a fluid story, so feel free to add the latest in the comments if you see anything that looks credible that we might miss.
Our questions would be these:
1. Could he get a hardship waiver for 2015 and be eligible to play immediately?
It would be a pretty tough road to hoe, but USF has proven it's pretty capable in these situations of doing excellent compliance work (see Gibbons, Riley, now eligible to play in 2015). I'm not sure this could happen, but if anyone could pull it off it's the Bulls compliance ninjas.
2. Is he a good fit for the new Bulls offense?
The knock on Woulard has been his ability to master the playbook. He's a workout warrior, but hasn't been able to translate it to the field. At this point, with the options USF has at QB, could USF even say no even if they wanted?
@USFCollin has improved while at ucla based on what i saw in their spring game. Head and shoulders better than anything usf has currently.
— shaun king (@realshaunking) June 22, 2015
USF did turn down potential Vanderbilt transfer Josh Grady, and apparently he wanted to be here. So the Bulls aren't just grabbing anyone available to play quarterback.
Something else to consider: if Woulard was a malcontent wtih the Bruins, I'd bet very-recent UCLA Associate Athletic Director Mark Harlan would be aware of this. I also seriously doubt USF would bring him to campus if he had been a problem in Westwood.
So we'll see what happens here. But the biggest recruiting soap opera in Bulls history looks like it might not be over yet.