Clear Vision, Focus: QB Vashaun Coulon has helped steady St. Augustine’s Rise
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Of the foreign language options available to freshmen at New Orleans’ St. Augustine High School, Vashaun Coulon chose Mandarin over Spanish and French.
“It’s just being able to be kind of diverse,” he said of his two years with the language spoken by 1.184 billion Chinese. “You never know where life’s going to take you. If I ever do need to speak the language, I’m able to.”
When Robert Valdez took over the St. Augustine job in January of 2024, he was searching for a quarterback to build his program around. He watched film of the Purple Knights from the year before, witnessing appearances by Coulon, also a starter on the school’s basketball team.
His pursuit took him and offensive coordinator John-Paul Pierce to a basketball game where Pierce pointed toward Coulon, as the player Valdez had seen on film.
Valdez later learned of Coulon’s attributes in the classroom, where he hasn’t made a ‘B’ since the sixth grade and had learned two years of Mandarin.
“It didn’t hurt that he had great grades,” Valdez said. “He had taken two years of Mandarin. I figured if he could read Mandarin, he could read defenses.”
Not only has Coulon been astute in the classroom with a 4.6 grade point average, the kind of academic credentials that have him in the running for the school’s valedictorian honor, but the 5-foot-10, 165-pounder has been at the heart of St. Augustine’s resurgence under Valdez the past two seasons.
A year after a seven-win season and trip to the Division I select regionals, St. Augustine (8-1) is tied for No. 2 in this week’s Class 5A rankings with John Curtis (7-1), the team the Purple Knights will battle for the District 9-5A runner-up spot.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at the Shrine on Airline in Metairie.
“We only have 15 seniors, 11 of them I came in together with,” said Coulon, 15-6 as a starter the past two seasons. “We had a mission coming in, and we didn’t want to let anybody get in the way of that. We were demanding of the team.”
St. Augustine, 3-7 in 2023, is steeped in tradition with three state championships (1963, 1965, 1966) under the Louisiana Interscholastic & Literary Organization (L.I.A.L.O.) umbrella. The Purple Knights joined the LHSAA in 1967 and have won state crowns in 1975, 1978, and 1979 under legendary head coach Otis Washington.
“The things we’ve done, we’ve been blessed to have good quarterback play,” Valdez said. “Wherever I’ve been the head coach, everything’s been built around the offensive line, and then we build out to everyone else. We identified early that he (Coulon) was a sponge and retained information very well. We could put more things on him in terms of responsibilities, and he responded well.”
The undersized guy Valdez got glimpses of during his introductory stages to the program, he was inheriting continued to distinguish himself in the lead up to the 2024 season.
“I had a chance to watch some film and noticed this small, skinny kid,” Valdez said with a laugh at the thought of seeing Coulon. “I said, ‘Who’s that kid?’ He was in basketball, and God knows basketball season at St. Aug. is like a different level of religion. I didn’t get a chance to meet in person.
“When we went to one of his games, coach Pierce pointed him out and said he was one of the kids that plays quarterback,” Valdez said. “He played defense (in basketball) and was like a gnat. I kind of liked that. We started our offseason. He made the decision to walk away from baseball and was there every day, doing all of the little things, and was consistent and was a sponge.”
Valdez said Coulon, a defensive back who moved to quarterback out of need, made a couple of starts in place of the starting quarterback in ’23 and also made an appearance in reserve for a team that didn’t win any Catholic League games in six attempts.
“I fell in love with how much he was retaining information and how consistent he was,” Valdez said. “I was like, ‘let’s go with this guy,’ and he’s been proving me right.”
Valdez said the initial plan was to rely more on his offensive line and running game until Coulon progressed enough with a talented group of young wide receivers to give him a greater portion of the offense.
There was a bumpy road along the way with St. Augustine dropping three straight league games to eventual Division I select state champion Karr, along with Jesuit and Archbishop Rummel. The Purple Knights regrouped, though, and reeled off wins over Brother Martin, Holy Cross, and John Curtis, building momentum that helped the team advance to the second round against St. Thomas More, which held on for a 28-27 victory.
Coulon completed 70% of his passes (165 of 235) for 3,125 yards and 34 touchdowns.
“I learned from the experience of last year, being able to take it over to this year and kind of learned from some of the mistakes and adjusted,” Coulon said. “I just started grinding. I worked on getting faster, more explosive with my legs. I wanted to get stronger in the weight room, have more velocity on throws. I just put my head down and worked Monday through Sunday.”
Coulon said the message of academics was well received in his home from his parents, Vashon Coulon Sr. and Jada Boudoin.
“They stayed on me about my grades, they said that always came first,” he said. “They said if you didn’t have good grades, you couldn’t really do anything. I’ve been able to use St. Aug as a platform – even after football – with the networking and ability here to be successful in life.”
Coulon said he was one of 12 students who took Mandarin, an experience he’s felt diversified his background and could potentially open doors later in life.
Coulon has separated himself into an elite group of students at the all-boys college preparatory Catholic school, maintaining the same passion for schoolwork as he’s done in football and basketball, the latter sport resulting in a Division I select state championship last season.
Coulon encountered the only one ‘B’ in school in a reading class that produced a grade of 92 on a 93-100 grading scale six years ago. His current grade point average factors in dual enrollment classes in which he’s already earned college credit.
The opportunity to obtain a college football scholarship remains of paramount importance, but Coulon also has his eye on a law degree, where he hopes to become an attorney.
“I want to use my athletic ability to go to college for free and get my education, and wherever it takes me from there, and go to law school,” he said.
Valdez has credited Coulon’s cerebral approach to the game. With PowerPoint presentations each week that help break down that week’s opponent, Coulon’s thrived in an environment that’s been as challenging mentally as it’s been physically.
“He’s a very mild-mannered kid,” Valdez said. “He’s way more mature than his age. The guys feed off of him.”
Coulon counts his preparation among his biggest assets, providing him with a look into the schemes and coverages of an opponent.
“We see what teams have done and we have to study the game plan and then go out and execute,” Coulon said. “Get the ball to the playmakers and let them make plays. I wanted to be more decisive with the ball this year. Being confident in my decisions and getting the ball out of my hand and being able to extend plays longer.”
Nine weeks after the season kicked off, St. Augustine finds itself in a battle for the No. 2 seed in next week’s Division I select playoffs.
Nationally ranked Karr (9-0, 6-0) is the prohibitive favorite to successfully defend its Division I select state championship, but the chase for the spot behind the Cougars, one that would place the winner on the opposite end of the bracket.
Five teams – Alexandria, Teurlings Catholic, Catholic-Baton Rouge, St. Augustine, and John Curtis – are separated by half a point going into Friday’s final games of the regular season.
“We’re super excited,” Valdez said.
St. Augustine’s responded to its only loss of the season – 42-21 against Karr – with four consecutive victories. That stretch began with a key 46-23 victory against Jesuit, a game in which Coulon delivered a career-best performance.
Coulon completed 23 of 34 passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Purple Knights move past the loss to Karr.
“We were coming off an emotional loss,” Valdez said. “At that point in Year 2 of our program, we hadn’t gotten there yet to understand how to win that type of game in that environment. We couldn’t wait to get back on the field the next game against Jesuit. There were some things we felt comfortable with (in the matchup). He was very opportunistic.”
Sparked by long touchdown passes to Ray’Quan Williams (71 yards) and Miguel Whitley (65 yards) – two of the state’s top prospects in the Class of 2027- Coulon was well on his way to a career day and enabling St. Augustine to build a 20-9 halftime lead.
The Purple Knights put the game away with a 14-point third quarter to a 34-9 lead before Jesuit scored.
“We were just coming off the (Karr) loss, we wanted to get our mojo back as an offense,” Coulon said. “We just coming out firing, getting the passing game going, and the O-line giving great protection. We were able to get in some great runs, too. It opened the pass, and we were able to spread the ball out.”
Coulon has been among the state’s leading passers and is one of a handful of quarterbacks to throw for in excess of 2,000 (2,161) yards.
He’s completed 67.2% of his throws (121 of 180) for 29 touchdowns and five interceptions, having reached the 200-yard plateau six times, and is St. Augustine’s second-leading rusher with 46 attempts for 331 yards and five TDs. He passed for a career-best seven TDs with 278 yards in a 68-40 win over Legacy School of Texas, added 257 yards and 3 TDs in a 47-22 win over Warren Easton, and 242 yards and 2 TDs versus Karr.
“It starts with the preparation in practice,” Coulon said. “We meet every day, watch film, go over certain things. The coaches give us a great game plan to go out and execute and do what we do. I didn’t feel like I was as mobile last year. When a play breaks down, kind of being able to extend it and get some positive yards.”
Whitley has been Coulon’s top target with 35 catches for 655 yards and 11 TDs, with Williams adding 26 grabs for 562 yards and 7 TDs. Derrick Bennett (18-260, 2 TDs) and Verchaun Sims (17-239, 3 TDs) have also been reliable targets, and Khlil Lewis has led the Purple Knights on the ground with 619 yards and 5 TDs on 97 attempts.
“It’s not a fast, race-horse type of tempo,” Valdez said. “It’s more controlled.”
St. Augustine averages 45 points and 272.1 yards per game.
“The role for him was to be able to extend plays with his legs this year,” Valdez said. “He got a little bigger, gained about 7-10 pounds. Just take what the defense gives you. We’ll pick and choose where to take our shots. He’s having a phenomenal year of doing what we need him to do, what we need to be able to stay ahead of the game to be successful.”
Coulon’s also benefitting from a summer when St. Augustine took part in 7-on-7 tournaments at LSU and Alabama State, and his participation in Stephen F. Austin’s camp.
The result hasn’t been any scholarship offers, but such schools as St. Olaf (Northfield, Minnesota), Millsaps College (Jackson, Miss.), and Ave Marie (Fla.) between Ft Myers and Hollywood – all of which are considered to be solid academic schools – have all monitored Coulon’s progress and shown interest.
“We talk all the time about taking care of the ball and not to give the opposing team extra possessions,” Valdez said of Coulon. “He understands the RPOs (run-pass options) we’re trying to do. It’s hard because kids want to go with what they want rather than what they see. With him, so far so good.”