By: LARRY VAUGHT
He’s considered one of the nation’s top five dual-threat quarterbacks and was interested in the University of Kentucky long before Mark Stoops became the new UK coach and brought in offensive coordinator Neal Brown.
However, four-star quarterback Asaintii Woulard of Winter Park, Fla., never heard from the previous UK coaching staff despite sending film. He verbally committed to South Florida, but changed his mind about that after coach Skip Holtz was fired and now has a visit set to Kentucky Jan. 11-12.
“Once the coaching staff changed, he ended up resending his information to Kentucky and they reached out to him,” said Michael Woulard, the quarterback’s father. “He was embraced by this new staff and they are really on him the best I can tell.”
The 6-4, 210-pound Woulard, who was the most valuable player at one of the Elite 11 camps last summer, played receiver his first two years in high school before converting to quarterback.
“He’s good running and throwing, but he’s probably a better passer than runner,” his father said.
“But he can run. “
Woulard was impressed by the hiring of Brown, the former offensive coordinator at Texas Tech.
“We really liked the new offensive coordinator,” Michael Woulard said. “We looked at the Texas Tech offense a lot and knew he would like to run that offense. He is wanting to be more of a pro-style quarterback, but he’ll do whatever fits with the team. He has talked to coach Brown several times and I have talked to coach Brown. We really like him.
“He just seems to be real personable. He is pretty much cut and dry when he tells you something. He’s straight forward but has a good personality about him. I have not seen a lot of coaches like him. You want to be comfortable around people you are playing for and it’s easy to be comfortable around him and working hard to win a championship. Or at least two championships.”
Woulard had “about eight other major offers” when he committed to South Florida but now he seems primarily interested in Kentucky.
“If he likes what he sees on his visit, I think he’ll be ready to commit to Kentucky,” his father, who will not make the visit to UK with him, said.
Michael Woulard describes his son “as quiet and laid back” off the field.
“He’ll usually speak in a monotone voice until he’s on the field and then he turns into something else,” Michael Woulard said.
His father jokes that his son is a “big fan” of singer Taylor Swift, something that might make him a bit different from other players.
“He used to play basketball, but I kind of talked him out of it because he’s always been special on the football field,” his father said.
Asaintii Woulard was timed in the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds two years ago but his father suspects he’s faster now. He also knows his overall knowledge of the game sometimes allows him to play faster than other players with similar speed.
“My son is lights out when it comes to getting on the board and drawing it (the offense) up. He’s way ahead of the curve on that,” Michael Woulard said. “He’s always made good grades. He’s a good boy and he knows if you want to make it (to Southeastern Conference football), grades are the first part of it. If you don’t get good grades, nothing else is going to work out for you. So grades have never been a problem with him.”
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