Wondy calls his first start amazing

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

The celebration at the Georgia Dome was in full swing back in December after the Florida Gators had disposed of Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game. No one was happier than Wondy Pierre-Louis, the freshman defensive back originally from that noted football factory, Haiti. He danced to the music. He hugged everybody, whether he knew them or not, at least once.

He had reason to dance that night. As a valuable member of Florida’s punt coverage unit, he was the first to the football in the end zone when the Razorbacks’ Reggie Fish fumbled an Eric Wilbur punt late in the third quarter. Wondy’s touchdown helped to turn the game around and as an added bonus, his mother was there to see his first collegiate touchdown.

Nine months after his best moment ever as a college football player, Wondy Pierre-Louis is about to embark on another journey. This time, he’s starting at cornerback as the Gators open their season with Western Kentucky at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (12:30 p.m., Lincoln Financial TV).

“Amazing,” is how this sophomore who played high school football at Naples Lely, describes the feeling of his first collegiate start. “God has opened a gate for me and now I can walk through it and I have a chance to do something good to help my team win a game. I am blessed.”

He’s starting, in part, because Markihe Anderson, will miss game one recovering from a sprained MCL. It’s not certain that Anderson will be back next week against Troy, either, so that means the Gators might have the two greenest corners in all of college football the next two weeks. True freshman Joe Haden, who was setting passing records in Maryland this time last year, will start at the corner opposite Pierre-Louis, who grew up playing soccer in Haiti.

Wondy came to the University of Florida as somewhat of a project. He didn’t take up football until he moved to the United States as a high school freshman so he’s had to learn the game on the fly. He got by on sheer athletic ability in high school, but when he got to the University of Florida, it was like starting all over again.

“My feet weren’t right,” he said. “I had to learn footwork and it was not very easy.”

A cornerback in the Southeastern Conference better have good footwork. This is a league noted for its big, fast, athletic wide receivers.

“You have to have feet because the feet have to match the footwork of the receivers to recover and trace the routes they run,” said the coach of Florida’s corners, Chuck Heater.

Wondy has been schooled on footwork by Heater and also by Florida’s outstanding wide receivers. Every day in practice he goes against the best wide receiving corps in the country and he knows that one misstep and they will burn him badly.

“You have to be sharp,” he said. “The receivers in the SEC are all very good and they are all very fast. You have to match their footwork so they can’t get away from you because someone like Percy … if you miss a step, they will get away from you and score a touchdown.”

“Practicing against Percy and Bubba (Caldwell), I have to be good because they can run from side to side at full speed. Percy is going so fast and then he can stop instantly. Then he is going fast at full speed again. I’m really glad those boys are on my team. They are dangerous.”

Wondy Pierre-Louis has tremendous speed just like Harvin and Caldwell, but when he arrived at Florida, he ran like he was running track. Those long strides may help run a fast 200 meters but they will get you toasted trying to stop a 15-yard out pattern.

“He was a long-striding kind of guy when he got here and that’s one of the things he’s improved on,” said Heater. “He’s shortened his stride and he kept working on it all spring and summer. He’s physically improved in that regard.”

It was during the winter workouts and spring football practice that Wondy started making the kind of improvements that could get him on the field. His rise up the depth chart has been steady thanks to a solid work ethic.

“Everybody comes to school hoping to start,” he said. “That’s your motivation to work hard. I have worked very hard. Now I will get my chance to be a starter.”

Heater said that Wondy’s hard work in the winter workouts and then in the spring were followed up by even more dedicated workouts in the summer months.

“He had a good winter offseason and then he had a really nice spring,” said Heater. “I thought he made tremendous strides and then he had a really good summer. He has made strides physically and improved some areas that he needed to improve so he can function at corner.

“Obviously, he’s more focused than he ever was before. He’s past all the freshman stuff now. He knows what he has to do to play.”

When he takes the field Saturday afternoon, Pierre-Louis says the goal is very simple. He just wants to do the things Coach Heater has taught him.

“I’m going to play hard every play and I will do everything they have taught me to do,” he said. “I have to remember the technique they have taught me and where I am supposed to be every play. If I do all the things Coach Heater has taught me, I’ll be okay.”

* * *

FEARLESS FORECAST: The Gators are going to send one of the youngest teams in Division I football onto the field to face a team that’s making its first jump into the big leagues. This will be a baptism of fire for both teams. For the Gators it’s on the job training for all the freshmen and sophomores. For Western Kentucky, it’s learning how to play with the big boys and doing it in a stadium that is five times larger and 20 times louder than the one back in Bowling Green.

Expect some first quarter jitters from the Gators and then once the nerves have calmed and the feet return to planet earth, watch for the talent differential to rear its head in an ugly way. It may be close for a quarter, but not much more than that.

I’ll take the Gators by something like 62-13.

[a1bion]

Wondy's story is an amazing one, considering what he came from and the work he did to get to where he is.