CLEMSON – Spare balls of varying sizes, extra baseball bats, and well-worn pads can be found in every nook, corner, and cranny of the Woodaz house. 

With two sons, Drew and Wade, that went on to play football at Clemson, the Woodaz family spent their weekends and most week nights in the 2010s at familiar fields, courts, or tracks in Tampa, Fla.

“Obviously I played football,” Wade Woodaz said, now years removed from a full schedule of youth sports. “I played baseball up until my senior year. I got recruited a little bit but I was better at football. And then basketball, soccer, and I ran track.”

Now, four years after deciding to compete solely in football at Clemson and over a decade removed from little league championships, Woodaz believes his history of multiple sports, and the different skillsets they provide, has benefitted his abilities as a linebacker.

“Growing up in high school, you learn so many different movements and you just become fluid overall,” he said. “Like playing baseball, I have elite hand-eye coordination. I can’t go hit a 95-mile-an-hour fastball, but I can swing a bat and a golf club. I can catch really well. And those lateral movements in basketball, I think they all create a well-rounded athlete, and that’s the reason why I am as athletic as I am as a linebacker.”

Woodaz, in his track career at Jesuit High School, threw the javelin and participated in the long jump, also running several relays in his four-year career. The graduate’s track background was on full display at Clemson’s Pro Day on March 12, when the veteran blazed his way to a 4.52-second 40-yard dash time. 

The split would have tied for third across all linebackers at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis two weeks earlier, falling only four hundredths of a second short of first place. It also ranked as the second-fastest time by any defender at Clemson’s Pro Day, falling short only to cornerback Jeadyn Lukus.

“I just wanted to showcase that I could run,” Woodaz said. “Just being a tall, white, linebacker, the reality is that people don’t expect me to be able to run. I think I did a good job of that, though.

“I can really move, I am a fluid athlete,” the veteran added.

Woodaz waited to run, as well as jump and participate in drills, at Clemson’s Pro Day rather than the Combine due to a shoulder injury he sustained against South Carolina last season. According to the seasoned starter, a hit dislocated the shoulder twice in one game and Woodaz was forced to sit out in the Tigers’ Pinstripe Bowl loss to Penn State after undergoing surgery.

“It was tough, not being able to play in a bowl game, and not being able to do Senior Bowl activities, and I couldn’t participate at the Combine,” he said. “But I’m happy I’m healthy now, and I’m happy I got it out of the way, rather than having to deal with it down the road.”

While rehabbing his shoulder, Woodaz’ attention has been focused in two other directions– training to improve his skills on the field, and meeting with professional teams ahead of the NFL Draft.  In his training, split between Clemson’s facility and in Fort Lauderdale, technical improvement has been a priority.

“Obviously I’ve only played two years in the box,” Woodaz said. “So I’m still developing the footwork aspect and just learning the angles, but I can clean that up.”

Many of the specific drills he and professionals at XPE Sports Training in Florida have targeted come from a specific criticism repeated by NFL staffers over Zoom meetings– a remark that holds a hope for a professional future.

“Talking to linebacker coaches now, obviously there’s some criticism because they’re coaches and they want me to get better,” Woodaz said. “But a lot of them say how raw I look, like I don’t look like a finished product. It’s promising, though, because it means my best football is ahead of me.”

Some of these conversations, in which Woodaz said he built close relationships, have been between staff members from the Seattle Seahawks, the Houston Texans, and the Las Vegas Raiders. Still, Woodaz knows that on Draft Day, he could end up in one of 29 other cities boasting a professional team.

“I think the nervous part is not knowing where I’m going to go,” he said. “I could end up in Green Bay, Wisconsin or Los Angeles, and that’s completely foreign to me. But at the same time, it’s pretty cool to get to experience different parts of the world. It’s all just part of the journey.”

Currently, Woodaz is slotted as a late-round pick by several expert draft boards, with his stock trending up after an impressive showing at Pro Day. In addition to his 40-yard-dash time, the six-foot-four backer ran a 1.55 10-yard dash, and jumped nine-feet, nine-inches on a broad jump, ranking third among participating Clemson defenders. 

Woodaz also has plenty of collegiate tape to watch as well, notching 201 tackles, 28.5 tackles-for-loss, four forced fumbles, and nine sacks across a four-year career with the Tigers. He was also an every-game starter his final two years, and for most of his sophomore season. 

Now, Woodaz will have his chance to take the next step and hear his name called at the NFL Draft from April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, Penn. 

If scouts need any more information about Woodaz from now until the end of April, they can refer to a decade’s worth of success in four non-football sports.