How Caiden Woullard’s “blue-collar” journey led him to Miguel Chavis and OU

Caiden Woullard isn’t a terribly vociferous character. In fact, when he committed to Oklahoma in January, the transfer defensive end declined all interview requests.

But as he sat at his bar table at the Sooners’ spring media day, Woullard actually appeared to be having some fun. He answered every question eagerly, with a smile perpetually plastered on his goatee-adorned face.

He’s genuinely excited to be at Oklahoma, and he’s got plenty to prove in what will be a one-season cameo in Norman. The former Miami (OH) standout recorded 9.5 sacks as a junior last year for the Redhawks, earning first-team All-MAC honors for his performance.

But this isn’t the MAC anymore. When he steps back onto the field this fall as a senior, Woullard will be playing SEC ball. A far greater task lies ahead, and although he’s only been on campus for a few weeks, he’s already feeling the heat of the Sooner staff’s heightened demands. But as much as he’s experienced the challenge at Oklahoma, he’s also experienced the camaraderie.

“They’re already hard on me,” he laughed. “But then again, that comes with Coach Chavis’ humor. He’s a great guy; he’s funny, and he loves his players. Coach Venables as well. They love their players. So I’m excited to be here, and the way they’ve brought me in, it makes me feel like I’ve been here for a long time so far.”

And as he prepares for his lone year in the crimson and cream, Woullard is ready to attack every day with the same hard-nosed demeanor that made him a prep phenom and a small-school superstar in his home state of Ohio. The road that’s taken him to the Sooner State has its origin — and in fact, its entire previous existence — in the heart of industrial America, where Woullard’s gridiron bloodline and blue-collar upbringing helped forge his career in football.

Jason Woullard is an Ohioan through and through. He’s spent much of his life in Massillon, a town of 30,000 people that sits 50 miles south of Cleveland. It’s where he played his high school football some three-plus decades ago — and he was no scrub, mind you. A 6-foot-1, 220-pound linebacker in his athletic prime, Jason enjoyed a decorated prep career at Massillon High before playing four years of college football at Bowling Green.

And once his son was old enough to follow in his footsteps as a Massillon Tiger, Jason began to realize that his days were numbered in Massillon lore as the most prominent Woullard. Caiden was going to go a little further as a football player than his old man did — and Jason had no qualms about that.

“You always want your kids to do better than you,” he declared. “And I told him when he went to Massillon, ‘Your job is to make them forget about me. When they say Woullard, they remember you.’ Well, mission accomplished. And football don’t last forever, but if he’s gonna line up and lace ‘em up, he’s gonna go full-speed all the time and give everything he’s got.

“He’s a yes man. He’s like, ‘Coach, sign me up. I’m ready to go.’ That’s blue-collar. That’s Ohio. We got dads that did 35 years in the steel mill and never missed a game.”

The Massillon football community is indeed a fervent one, as some playoff games can draw crowds that are on par with Massillon’s entire population. It’s one of the most storied high school football programs in the nation; a fellow named Paul Brown launched a legendary coaching career by winning six consecutive state titles at Massillon from 1935-40. The Tigers claimed an astonishing 21 state championships between 1935 and 1970, but experienced a somewhat bizarre 53-year title drought that finally ended last fall. Since Brown took over as head coach in 1932, the program has experienced exactly five sub-.500 seasons — four of which were 4-6 campaigns and one of which concluded with a 4-5-1 mark.

Dan Hackenbracht is well acquainted with the Massillon tradition, as he’s been tasked to uphold it as both a player and a staffer. Currently the safeties coach for the Tigers, Hackenbracht played at Massillon in the late eighties and early nineties; in fact, he was a member of the same graduating class as Jason. The two have known each other since fourth grade, which has given Hackenbracht a front-row seat to Caiden’s development over the years.

“He’s exactly like his dad was,” remarked Hackenbracht, who played at Michigan State after his high school career at Massillon. “They just went to work; they didn’t say anything. They went out on the football field and they busted their behinds every day at practice. They were big, strong, tough, physical guys — both of them, now. And they just had that workman’s mentality. They kept their mouth shut; they didn’t get in trouble. The kind of guy that you’d love to have as a teammate, and the kind of guy that you’d like to have when you’re coaching him.”

When Caiden arrived at Massillon as a freshman, his father was under the impression he’d become a safety. But as he grew and added weight, it became increasingly clear to Hackenbracht and the rest of the Massillon staff that his future wasn’t in the defensive backfield.

“When he got to the high school level in ninth grade, he was kind of a taller, thinner guy,” Hackenbracht recalled. “Caiden was a multi-sport athlete; he played basketball as well. He was skinnier in tenth grade, and then he hit the weights his junior year, but he played basketball again his senior year. So he kind of stayed a thinner guy. And then after basketball season his senior year, he really developed his body and started to grow into that monster-looking guy you see now.”

Caiden was nothing more than a rotational contributor during his first two years of high school ball at Massillon, but he made it a point to do whatever he could to get on the field. He’d never long-snapped prior to his sophomore year, but quickly learned the craft well enough to become the Tigers’ starting deep snapper. Come his junior year, he finally moved into a full-time starting role at linebacker.

“He was 210 — maybe — his junior year,” said Jason. “He’s always had that real long wingspan, but he was kinda light and we ran an odd front. So he was kind of that hybrid ‘backer where they could bring him if they wanted. He could drop into coverage; he had a couple interceptions that year.”

Caiden’s performance as a junior was impressive enough that college coaches in the region began to reach out and extend offers. But as his recruitment began to pick up steam, everything suddenly came to a crashing halt — not just for Caiden, but for the entire country.

In March of 2020, Rudy Gobert memorably came down with COVID-19. And for the first time in modern history, the sports world completely stopped spinning.

Caiden was fresh off the breakout junior season that had landed him on the radar for several Group of 5 programs across the region, but all of a sudden, he’d have no opportunity to strut his stuff for potential Power 5 suitors during the summer camp circuit.

“At the end of his junior year, a lot of the MAC had already offered,” said Jason. “Massillon, they did camps every year. We’d go to Pitt every year. I want to say — I’m not 100 percent — that year, they had scheduled Pitt, West Virginia, Ohio State and Kentucky.

“But then, boom, everything gets canceled. He’s out in the garage with a backpack full of weights, doing his workouts. And over the next three and a half months, he grew three inches and gained 30 pounds. So now he’s going into his senior year at 6-5, 240. So obviously, I think that camp season would have probably been pretty fruitful.”

Nevertheless, Caiden’s interest from Power 5 schools remained minimal. A few programs kicked the tires, but never offered. As the pandemic created unprecedented strategic issues in recruiting departments nationwide, many schools held off on performing late-cycle evaluations that might otherwise have landed Caiden some Power 5 looks.

“I always told people, I was a good MAC player,” said Jason. “I was specifically built for the Mid-American Conference. I played inside, then I moved outside at 6-1, 220. We were an odd front, and I played that drop ‘backer. But Caiden? I’m looking at this kid, and he’s 6-5, 240. That’s a Power 5 tight end, defensive end, whatever.”

Caiden excelled as a senior, making key contributions on both sides of the ball for the Tigers. But as the recruiting cycle drew to a close, he had to make a decision — and his options were essentially limited to the MAC. Miami University had recruited him the hardest in the final few weeks of the cycle; nevertheless, Jason and the Massillon coaches were holding out hope that Caiden would get a couple of late looks.

“We were kind of hanging around, just waiting to see if some magic would happen,” recalled Jason. “He was all-state, all-district, all-everything. He set the record for tackles for loss that year at Massillon. I’m just like, ‘Maybe that one jackpot call will come.’ You’re hoping to hear from Ohio State or whoever. But it kind of never materialized. Boston College was dragging their feet, and Northwestern had requested his transcript, and this is December 28th. We got 38 days to figure this out.”

On the advice of Massillon head coach Nate Moore, Caiden shut down his recruitment and committed to Miami U. Jason didn’t meet Redhawks head coach Chuck Martin until the day his son enrolled. Caiden had never taken an official visit — not just to Miami U, but to any school. Amidst the chaos of COVID-19, one of the Buckeye State’s most talented players had fallen through the cracks for every Power 5 school in America, and he’d be playing his college ball in Oxford, Ohio.

“All of us knew that he was above that level,” said Hackenbracht. “But for whatever reason, that’s where he ended up. We knew he was a Power 5 guy from early in his junior year; we knew just by the way he looked and the way he ran. But sometimes guys get missed for whatever reason.”

After playing sparingly in 10 games as a true freshman, Caiden became a full-time starter at defensive end for the Redhawks in 2022. His sophomore year resulted in 29 tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble — solid numbers, sure, but not star-caliber production.

But as a junior in 2023, he exploded. He terrorized the MAC to the tune of 41 tackles and 9.5 sacks, and ranked ninth in the entire FBS with an astonishing 59 pressures. And when Miami U’s season ended with a 13-9 Cure Bowl loss to Appalachian State, Caiden decided he was ready to level up.

When he officially entered the transfer portal on the morning of December 26, it didn’t take long for schools to start reaching out. The same regional programs that had ignored him as a high schooler were some of the first programs to make calls. Texas A&M offered within hours. Missouri followed suit. But by the evening, Oklahoma was on the horn, and Jason viewed the offer from the Sooners as a watershed one for his son.

“I can’t say I was surprised that he picked up steam so fast with the closer Big Ten schools — Indiana, Minnesota, you know what I mean?” he said. “But then, the next thing you know, there’s A&M and Missouri and then Oklahoma came in a little later that evening. To me, that was the one. I was like, ‘It’s official now. He’s arrived.’ Missouri? Whatever. We beat Missouri my senior year at Bowling Green; we went 5-6. So I don’t want to hear it. We beat them at Missouri. But Oklahoma is Oklahoma; that’s blue-blood.”

And outside of OU’s stellar tradition, the first thing that stood out to both father and son was the extent to which Miguel Chavis had studied Caiden’s game.

“They’d done more homework on him than I could have ever imagined,” Jason remarked. “He said, ‘Dad, this guy had three-quarters of a notepad filled out with notes from every game!’ And I look at the clock, and I’m like, ‘Man, I swear you just talked to Miguel for the first time at 7:30.’ And it’s like 9:30 or 10. This guy was grinding it out.”

From Caiden’s standpoint, all it took was that one call with Chavis to realize that Oklahoma was where he needed to be.

“Coach Chavis had FaceTimed me when I gave him my number, and from there on, I knew this was my frontrunner,” he explained. “Oklahoma was my frontrunner just because of how he was talking on the phone. He knew everything about me — my skills, my stats, the way I played, all that. So my first impression of him was, ‘I can get along with this dude.’ And the rest is history from there.”

Chavis’ magnetic personality, in addition to his intricate analysis of Caiden’s film, enabled the Sooners to establish the advantage from the get-go. Though Caiden did schedule visits to Texas A&M and Louisville, neither of those trips ever happened. The first — and only — official visit of his life was a trip to Oklahoma.

“We get on FaceTime with Miguel, and I could tell the reason why Caiden gravitated towards him,” Jason said. “Caiden’s not very talkative. I would say he listens more than he speaks most of the time. But he was opening up to me about Miguel, and I’m like, ‘Man, my son ain’t said this many words to me in a week!’

“Made one visit; that’s all we needed. I was sold after the S.O.U.L. Mission meeting, and I think Mom was too. I said, ’It’s not gonna get better than this. Oklahoma is the real deal.’ And I think that was what it came down to for him. He’s like, ‘The best of the best are here.’”

On the visit, Caiden informed Chavis and the remainder of the Oklahoma staff that they could count on his services in 2024. He went public with his commitment shortly thereafter, and explained in so many words that the Sooners checked every single box for him.

“I knew Oklahoma’s history,” he said. “Oklahoma is Oklahoma — the championships, the Heismans, all that. And I knew we were also going to the SEC, so that played a big part. I couldn’t wait to get on the visit, and they impressed me. They did everything they could to get me here, and now here we are.

“Coach Chavis, back when he was at Clemson with Coach Venables, they developed NFL players [and] first-round draft picks. They’ve had countless defensive lineman draft picks. I’m excited for my development, and then I’m excited to see how we do this season. I think we’ll be a great team, and I’m excited to play with my new teammates.”

Caiden was enrolled in classes less than two weeks after his pledge, and in the two months he’s spent in Norman, he’s quickly developed a rapport with the remainder of Oklahoma’s tight-knit corps of defensive ends. He’ll compete for snaps with a bevy of talented edge players, but there’s no animosity amongst the group, which has welcomed Caiden with open arms.

“Ethan Downs is a great leader,” Caiden observed. “R Mason [Thomas], PJ [Adebawore], Taylor Wein, Trace Ford, all of them have helped me through this process so far. They’ve been great leaders. Taylor, for instance — he’s helped me learn everything. The whole team is really welcoming; they’re good people. So that’s helped me a lot so far.”

It’s been a continual acclimation process for Caiden, no question. Oklahoma is a far cry from Miami University in just about every respect. But his approach hasn’t changed, and the relentless work ethic he learned in Massillon has already earned him respect, even though the pads have yet to come on.

“The last couple times I talked to him, the first thing was the Schmitty workouts,” Jason laughed. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, Dad, it’s pretty rough, but as long as you bust your a-word’ — he won’t cuss to me, which makes me laugh every time — ‘if you bust your a-word, then Schmitty leaves you alone.’ He’s up around 265. He’s ready.”

Will Caiden generate 59 pressures again in 2024? That’ll be an exceptionally tall task in the SEC. But in keeping with his general football mentality, he’s not worried about his snap count or statistical production. He’ll show up to the Switzer Center seven days a week with a one-track mind, a focused intensity. Where the chips fall is beyond his control to a certain extent; he’ll handle his business in the meantime.

“Guarantee he’s gonna give you an A-plus effort every day,” Hackenbracht promised. “He’s not gonna cause any problems. He’s gonna be a great teammate, and he’s gonna lead with how he works and how he plays. He’s ready for that kind of level, physically and mentally. It’s not gonna be too much for him. He’s gonna get after it. I think he’s gonna make the fans at Oklahoma proud and happy.

“Within a college locker room, you got all different types of personalities. A lot of guys want to tell you how good they are; Caiden is not that guy. Caiden’s gonna line up on the field and he’s gonna get after it.”

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