Eason says freshman Peter Woods has all the tools to be dominant

Dabo Swinney talks to Peter Woods during the spring game.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Jul 19 07:00:21 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – It didn’t take long Tuesday for the conversation to turn to talented freshman Peter Woods, and his position coach says Woods has all the tools to be dominant.

Clemson held its annual Media Day in the football facility, and defensive tackles coach Nick Eason was asked about Woods, the freshman defensive tackle out of Alabama that shined during the spring.

“He’s such a great kid, and at the end of the day, he’s just been blessed with God-given talent,” Eason said. “So, God’s given him a lot of abilities that other people just don’t have. He’s given him strength, speed, quickness that other people don’t have. So, when you combine that with him as a person and who he is, it just makes it amazing. He’s going to be a natural leader for us.

“Obviously there are areas of his game that he needs to work on, but he’s definitely going to be a really good football player for us and a great leader for us. So, just truly excited about that. But at the end of the day, no matter how great you are, there’s always room for improvement. So, is he going to be really good? Yes, he is, and so are the other guys. Vic Burley, Stephiylan Green, they’re just as talented. So, I’ve been truly blessed to have an opportunity to coach them.”

Woods has all the tools to be dominant.

“He hasn’t played a down yet, but I can tell you this — he definitely has the tools to be very dominant,” Eason said. “He has tools that I haven’t seen in a guy that just turned 18 years old.”

Woods led his Alabaster (AL) Thompson program to four straight 7A State Championships (2019-22), the first team in Alabama to win four consecutive state titles since Hoover in the early 2000s. His team compiled a 50-5 record in his four years. Woods was a 2022 MaxPreps first-team All-American and Alabama Player of the Year, the 2022 Alabama Class 7A Lineman of the Year and Super All-State honoree, and finished his high school career with 260 tackles, 72 tackles for loss and 29.5 sacks. He recorded 90 tackles, 23 tackles for loss and eight sacks as a senior despite being double-teamed the entire season.

Woods enrolled at Clemson in January and promptly drew rave reviews from coaches and players alike during the spring. Woods recorded six tackles and a blocked field goal in the Tigers' annual spring game.

However, Woods still has room to improve.

“When you got a guy that’s 6-3, 310 pounds of muscle, you can go and make plays whenever you feel like it. You watch his Hudl tape; he just runs through people,” Eason said. “So it’s kind of crazy, you’re trying to tell a guy, ‘Hey, you don’t have to make every play in the defense.’ So, when you’re telling a guy that, that means you’ve got a really good football player that can go make plays.

“So for the most part, it’s just learning, understanding our defensive scheme and just learning our defense. But he comes out every day, he’s humble, eager to learn, always looking to improve, so that’s what’s making him great.”

Clemson doesn’t have the depth at defensive end that it has at other positions, and Woods can play outside if needed.

“I cross-train all my players to be able to play in and out, so he’ll be cross-trained just like everybody else,” Eason said. “So right now, all my players are going to be cross-trained to be able to play across the board, which makes it really exciting for me to be able to do that.”