USF's Flowers a new dad, Woulard an ex-Bull

TAMPA — When practice commenced Tuesday at USF, Quinton Flowers was engrossed in his first full day of fatherhood, Brett Kean was taking first-team snaps and Asiantii Woulard was a conspicuous absentee.

Otherwise, it was a run-of-the-mill morning for Bulls quarterbacks.

Shortly after confirming Flowers missed Tuesday's practice to be with his girlfriend, who delivered a baby girl in Miami the previous day, coach Willie Taggart ended his weekly news conference with a mic-drop moment of sorts.

"I've got one other thing, and then I'll leave it at this," Taggart said. "Asiantii Woulard's no longer on our football team, he's no longer with us."

Taggart didn't elaborate, but school spokesman Brian Siegrist said Woulard, who transferred last summer from UCLA, will remain in classes for the time being. Woulard's name didn't appear in a statewide check of arrests.

On Tuesday afternoon he tweeted: "I do no wrong nobody, never thought such (expletive) would happen to me."

Woulard's departure represents the latest chapter in a mostly futile collegiate odyssey for the Winter Park High alumnus, once deemed the nation's top dual-threat quarterback by ESPN. In three-plus seasons, including two at UCLA, Woulard has not taken a snap in a college game.

Originally a Bulls commitment before signing with UCLA, he left the Bruins program two summers ago and sat out last season per NCAA transfer rules.

Teeming with velocity and physical upside (6 feet 3, 215 pounds), he was projected to challenge Flowers for the first-team job this season, but he ended spring drills third on the depth chart behind Flowers and Kean, a redshirt freshman. A foot fracture this summer further hindered Woulard.

With Flowers absent from practice, Kean and freshman Chris Oladokun — a Sickles High alumnus — were the only quarterbacks at Tuesday's full-pads practice, typically the lengthiest and most physical of the week. The Bulls don't practice on Mondays.

Flowers, 22, is expected back today, Taggart said. Barring something unforeseen, he's expected to start Saturday night's American Athletic Conference opener at Cincinnati.

"The girl's doing well, the baby's doing well and Quinton's doing well," Taggart said. "He's a new father, (has) a different perspective on life now. He's got to grow up even more now and he's got to do a great job to be a great father, and I know that he will."