Commentary | Asiantii Woulard should not have to wait to play football for USF
Asiantii Woulard didn't see the field in his two years at UCLA. Now he is enrolled at USF, but has to wait until 2016 to play because of the NCAA's transfer rule.
It's another case of NCAA hypocrisy.
Woulard was an honor roll student at UCLA and did everything that was asked of him, but wasn't good enough to play in the eyes of the coaches.
When he is eligible in 2016, he will only have two years to play and, will have not been in a football game in three years.
It's an injustice. But the NCAA feeds off injustices, so little will be said.
Woulard was the top-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the country by ESPN in his final season at Winter Park High School in 2012.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder is a younger, bigger version of USF head coach Willie Taggart, who took Manatee to a state title and became a legendary quarterback at Western Kentucky.
In the past two years, Willie Taggart has had the two highest rated recruiting classes in the American Athletic Conference, and Woulard could be a prize.
But so much can happen in a year. Coaches leave. Programs change. Let this kid play -- he's given enough to college football's billion-dollar industry.
There is no doubt Taggart is an elite recruiter similar to his mentor Jim Harbaugh, now at Michigan. Unfortunately, bringing in all these young players calls for patience, and that seems to be in short supply these days.
Riding the waves
USF sports fans will have greater access to their favorite teams after the university reached an agreement with WWBA 820 AM to make it the flagship station for the USF/IMG Radio Network.
The station will carry all USF football, men's basketball games, coaches shows and women's night basketball games.
It provides the Bradenton and Sarasota markets with an improved signal, and greatly extends the state-wide reach during daytime hours.
NFL Arrest Time of Year
This is the time of year NFL coaches go to sleep at night with a rabbit's foot, lucky charm and phone number of their favorite criminal lawyer.
Camps are closed until the end of the month, and every player is free to do what he wants -- which isn't always a good thing for these guys.
Idle NFL players can be dangerous to themselves and others.
Last year, there were eight NFL players arrested in July, the highest of any month according to ArrestNation.com.
It's early into the month, but Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith has to be feeling cautiously optimistic -- though the Warren Sapp debacle can't help unless it's the "I told you so" type of learning experience.
The Hall of Famer is retired, but you hope Sapp's recent arrest for domestic violence that portrayed a life seemingly out of control doesn't negatively influence some of Lovie's younger guys. Fortunately, he has Gerald McCoy to keep things in the right perspective.
The NFL had only one arrest in June (Brandon Spikes), but there were minicamps and OTAs to keep the players busy. Three days into July there were three NFL players and three college players arrested, which could lead to a banner month for America's favorite sport.
College football players usually have the most arrests -- and walloped the competition in June with 13 -- leaving runner up college basketball far behind with two.
College football has by far the most players of any sports entity, so that might explain its numbers to some extent. But it doesn't bode well for the image of the sport at the professional or college levels.
Alan Dell, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports.
This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Commentary | Asiantii Woulard should not have to wait to play football for USF."