Versatile vet Wade Woodaz bringing along young linebacker unit

This year has been a little different for Wade Woodaz compared to his previous two, and he's embracing his bigger role.

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Wednesday, September 25 2024

CLEMSON - Junior Tigers linebacker Wade Woodaz is having some of the best games in his career.

Prior to this season, his most solo tackles in a game were three. He has now eclipsed that twice, with seven solo tackles in Clemson’s opening game against the Georgia Bulldogs and another four in the Tigers’ 59-35 victory against NC State. Like any competitor, however, he is still looking to improve.

“I feel like I’ve played pretty good so far. Obviously, I still want to improve and get better, make a big play or something like that,” Woodaz said. “But overall, I feel like I’ve done my job, which is all I can control, and as long as I get in the right position, big plays are going to happen.”

This year has been a little different for Woodaz compared to his previous two, as he is increasing his versatility learning the Will, Mike and Sam linebacker positions. Having that kind of versatility is obviously a valuable aspect for any player and should help him when it is his time to go to the NFL. For now, Woodaz is just grateful defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin gave him the chance to play all these positions as well as having the ability to teach the younger players on Clemson’s roster.

“It is pretty fun, I’m not going to lie. Just being able to be plugged in like that, I appreciate Coach Wes for really taking time with me so I can learn it a lot. But, it is fun being able to bounce around and then when I’m in there with young guys like (true freshman linebacker) Sammy (Brown) and (redshirt freshman linebacker) Dee (Crayton), I can help them out too because I play their position too,” Woodaz said. “I like Mike the best. For the longest time, I really liked Sam. But now that I’ve got my feet wet and I’m really comfortable at Mike now, so I would say I like that a lot more.”

Brown was a consensus top-30 player nationally according to 247Sports, ESPN, On3, PrepStar and Rivals, making his commitment to Clemson an important one for the future of their defense. Early in his career, he is already making an impact. Only Woodaz has more tackles than Brown does and the High School Butkus Award winner is also leading the Tigers in tackles for loss with 3.5.

“I’m really proud of him. He’s worked so hard, and he’s always up there watching tape with me and (senior linebacker) Barrett (Carter) and (graduate safety) Tyler Venables, and I’m really proud of him,” Woodaz said. “The work he puts in his showing up on game day. So, obviously, there’s room to improve. But, everyone can improve. So, for him to perform this well as a young freshman is really promising.”

Because of the mass amount of points the Tigers have put up on offense through the last two games, Clemson’s young players have gotten a lot of reps they otherwise would not have. Particularly with redshirt sophomore linebacker Kobe McCloud out for the season with a knee injury, having these young players gain experience will be incredibly important for the Tigers as they get later into the season and need that depth. As one of the veteran players among the linebackers, Woodaz has seen his leadership role increase. However, having the iPads on the sideline during games has already proved helpful in showing these young players where they need to improve.

“We need to develop (our) younger guys in the room … It’s more for me and Barrett, it feels like I’m more teaching, which is good because it challenges us mentally too. So, in order to get them prepared, we got to take the steps to show them the way even more,” Woodaz said. “Having the iPads now is really clutch because you can literally see where you messed up on the sideline and so, just making those simple adjustments can help them to go out and make a play on the next series.”

Clemson will now have their third straight home game this coming Saturday (7 p.m. / ESPN) against Stanford. It will mark only the second time these two teams have ever faced each other and the first time they will play against each other as conference opponents. They are led by junior quarterback Ashton Daniels who has 562 passing yards and is also their leading rusher with 163 rushing yards. Their top receiving threat is redshirt sophomore Elic Ayomanor, who has had 234 receiving yards and a touchdown so far this season. Last year, he had over 1,000 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

“That quarterback’s a baller, same with (Ayomanor). They’re really good. We’re obviously going to have to be really disciplined when it comes to (the) run game. They’re not going to be afraid to run him. So, (we have to play) really sound technically and schematically as well,” Woodaz said. “I wasn’t expecting to play (against) Stanford ever. But, it’s just another opponent. So, we don’t treat them any differently than NC State or Georgia or whoever. They’re a good team as well.”