The thought process behind Jelani Woods’ selection of jersey No. 0 is pretty straightforward.
“I feel like this coming year I wanted to make a statement that nobody can stop me,” Virginia’s new tight end explained succinctly during a video news conference with reporters this week.
The number may be an opportunity for Woods to send a single-digit message to opposing defenses. But the junior, who arrived at UVa for the spring semester as a graduate transfer from Oklahoma State, also sees it as a statement from his new teammates.
Woods was one of 32 players chosen by teammates on Saturday night to get a pick in the first round of this year’s jersey number selections. To the tight end, getting a number meant he’d earned his teammates’ respect.
“That was really the achievement that I wanted,” he said. “I just wanted to show them that I’m all-in from Day 1 and I can work as much as possible to gain their respect, gain their trust, and then show that I’m with them, I’m a brother as well, even though I transferred.”
Woods has been earning that trust in a variety of ways. He got right to work with Brennan Armstrong in the spring, spending extra time with the quarterback to learn about the routes that offensive coordinator Robert Anae emphasizes at tight end. Woods also put in the effort in the weight room and in summer conditioning, earning a spot on the ‘Dirty Dozen’ group of the team's top offseason workout performers.
“Jelani is exactly what we would have hoped for,” head coach Bronco Mendenhall said last week.
Anae praised Woods several days ago for his competitiveness and effort since his arrival, saying that the tight end has already grown into a leadership presence on his new team. He also pointed out that Woods is currently a starter on two of the team’s special teams units.
“Not just on offense but a team guy,” Anae added. “Boy, he was outstanding in the weight room, outstanding in the conditioning. That’s just kind of a sense of who he is.”
At 6-foot-7 and 265 pounds, Woods is also a potential mismatch in Anae’s offense this fall. He’s expected to fill a role along the lines of what another 6-foot-7, 265-pound grad transfer tight end, Tony Poljan, brought to the offense last fall.
Prior to last year, tight ends hadn’t played a significant role since Anae and the rest of Mendenhall’s coaching staff arrived from BYU. That position group had only eight of the 266 completions thrown by the UVa offense in 2016, Anae’s first season in Charlottesville. The highest reception total for tight ends in Anae’s first four seasons came in 2017, when Evan Butts, Tanner Cowley, and Richard Burney combined for 36 catches and three touchdowns.
Poljan, now in camp with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted rookie, surpassed that total by himself last year. He finished with 38 catches for 411 yards in 10 games. His six touchdown catches led the Wahoos, and that one-season total was enough for Poljan to leave UVa ranked eighth all-time in TD receptions among tight ends.
Woods made 31 catches for 361 yards and four touchdowns in his three years in Stillwater. With Oklahoma State loaded with playmakers on the outside, he felt his opportunities to contribute at tight end would remain limited. Woods saw the way the Hoos utilized Poljan and the mismatches they created for him last year, and liked how Anae got a variety of players involved in the offense.
“That’s pretty much what I was looking for,” he said, “getting the opportunity to show what I can do and giving my all.”
Anae has been moving Woods all around the offense this summer in an effort to generate those same defensive mismatches that worked with Poljan. Woods has lined up in the backfield as a running back and out wide as a receiver, and occasionally right beside another of the team's versatile offensive weapons, Keytaon Thompson.
“I’ve never seen some of the formations and just the different calls and things that (Anae) comes up with daily,” Woods said. “It’s been awesome.”
“Jelani’s been a huge weapon. He can do it all, I guess,” said Armstrong. “Someone who is dynamic, fast. Can go up and catch it, be a bully in the middle of the field. I’m excited to see what happens on the field the first game.”
Woods has also been strengthening the rapport with his new quarterback as well. The Ellenwood (GA) native said his chemistry with Armstrong was “pretty much like 100 percent” coming out of spring practice and “right now, probably like 150 percent.”
“Because since I used to be a quarterback,” Woods pointed out, “I kind of see exactly what he sees and we always talk about it after the play or when we’re in the locker room.”
Woods was actually a three-star quarterback coming out of Cedar Grove High School in 2017. He didn’t move to tight end until late in his first year at Oklahoma State while redshirting. When asked if that background could lead to No. 0 throwing a few passes for the Hoos this fall, Woods just cracked a smile.
“I can’t tell you that,” he replied. “It’s something to see.”
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