Clemson will soon play host again to this standout Sunshine State defender, who is the younger brother of a current Clemson football player.
Jesuit High School (Tampa, Fla.) linebacker Drew Woodaz will be back on campus for the Tigers’ Jan. 28 elite junior day.
“It should be fun,” he told The Clemson Insider. “I’m excited.”
Woodaz, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound prospect in the 2024 class, is of course the younger brother of Clemson rising sophomore Wade Woodaz.
A versatile defensive weapon, Wade saw action at both linebacker and safety for the Tigers this past season, recording 20 tackles (5.5 for loss), 1.5 sacks, three pass breakups, a forced fumble and a blocked punt over 14 games (one start) as a freshman.
“It was kind of surreal. I was kind of like, ‘Is he actually playing?’” Drew said of his brother’s first collegiate campaign. “Because it seems impossible to be playing on that stage, and now he’s doing it. So, it’s just crazy to see all his hard work finally paying off.”
Meanwhile, as a junior at Jesuit, Drew put together a very strong season individually as well.
“I think I had 96 tackles, like 13 PBUs, two picks. I think I had three forced fumbles,” he said. “Personally, I feel like I had one of my better years. Definitely I did have one of my better years, and I just evolved more as a player.”
More than a dozen schools have extended scholarship offers to Drew, whose offer list includes schools such as Vanderbilt, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Cincinnati, USF and others.
Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.) 2024 linebacker Drew Woodaz works out during Dabo Swinney’s football camp Sunday, June 12, 2022. Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider
Drew camped at Clemson last summer and made multiple gameday recruiting visits to Tiger Town this past fall.
When he attends Clemson’s elite junior day, Drew said he simply wants to have a good time and continue building his relationship with the staff. But he’s keeping his fingers crossed for an offer from the Tigers, too.
“Hopefully I get offered, who knows,” he said. “But that’s like my biggest dream.”
Suiting up together at Clemson would be a dream come true for the Woodaz brothers.
“I mean, I’d love to go to Clemson,” Drew said. “Playing with my brother again, it’d be making our dreams come true, and it’s been a dream school of mine since I was a kid. So, they’re always up there.”
Drew said he communicates with Wes Goodwin about once a week, and the message from Clemson’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach is “just stay with him and keep working and just keep being myself, and that everything’s going to work out.”
As he goes through the recruiting process, Drew is able to lean on Wade when he needs to, and he has gotten some good advice from his older bro.
“Just stay patient, and that patience is everything,” Drew said. “Because he didn’t really get a whole bunch of offers until late in his senior year, and then that’s when he got Clemson and he committed. He just keeps telling me to stay patient and everything will happen.”
Before he travels to Clemson on Jan. 28, Drew is looking to visit Cincinnati on Jan. 22. Vanderbilt is recruiting him hard, and he expects to make his way there in March. Oklahoma reached out to him about visiting this month, but it’s the same date as Clemson’s elite junior day.
What does Drew believe he can bring to the table for whichever team he ends up playing for at the next level?
“I feel like my speed and my ability to make plays as a linebacker is just one of the best, and I feel like me and my brother, I feel like we’re both leaders,” he said. “That’s just how our parents raised us to be is leaders and lead by example and be vocal leaders if we need to, and I feel like that’s what I do very well.”
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