The Past, Present, And Future Of UCLA Quarterbacks, Part II: The Roller Coaster Of QB Recruiting

Sep 25, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Asiantii Woulard on the bench against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium. UCLA defeated Arizona State 62-27. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

2013

Targets (in chronological order): Eddie Printz (3*- Marietta, GA), Troy Williams (4*- Harbor City, CA), Hayden Rettig (4*- Los Angeles, CA), Asiantii Woulard (4*- Winter Park, FL)

How it went down: Not too long after offensive line coach Adrian Klemm left SMU to join Mora’s coaching staff at UCLA, Eddie Printz, the quarterback out of Georgia that Klemm had recruited to SMU, chose to follow suit and flipped from SMU to UCLA. As the spring progressed though, the coaching staff became disenchanted with Printz, finding him to be a quarterback prospect with a limited ceiling. Eventually, a messy breakup occurred in which UCLA cut ties with Printz and those around Printz subsequently went on the offensive in the media, lambasting the UCLA coaching staff.

The UCLA coaches turned to two committed local prospects instead: Troy Williams from Narbonne, a commit to Washington, and Hayden Rettig from Cathedral, a commit to LSU. The Bruins pushed hard for both, but couldn’t convince either to flip.

In the end, UCLA was the beneficiary of some good fortune when Elite 11 MVP and highly-rated dual threat QB Asiantii Woulard decommitted from South Florida after Skip Holtz was fired as the Bulls’ head coach. The Bruins moved aggressively onto Woulard and were able to land him on National Signing Day 2013.

Signees: Asiantii Woulard

Progression at UCLA: Once he arrived at UCLA for his first fall camp, Woulard immediately began to turn heads, as his physical talents were apparent to anyone who saw him and his upside seemed limitless. He just seemed to ooze potential out of every pore and it looked like UCLA had lined up its successor to Hundley. However, as his career at UCLA progressed, Woulard stagnated as he struggled to pick up some of the finer points of the position, like reading defenses and going through his progressions.

This past spring, it became apparent that Woulard was not likely to start at any point for UCLA, as he was outperformed by true freshman phenom Josh Rosen. Seeing the writing on the wall, Woulard understandably chose to transfer out and pursue a starting position at another program rather than be a career backup in Westwood.

Remaining on the roster: None

Next: Caught By Surprise In 2014