There’s been an abundance of hype around Peter Woods this spring.

And that hype surrounding the highly touted freshman defensive lineman is justified and legitimate, according to Clemson junior safety Andrew Mukuba.

“I’ll just tell y’all, the hype is real, man,” Mukuba said of Woods. “Everybody sees it. The hype is real. He’s just a dude among boys, and I see it every day now.”

By all accounts, Woods has been a beast on the practice fields this spring, and the former five-star prospect’s potential is through the roof.

Senior safety R.J. Mickens said Woods is “just dominating guys,” while junior linebacker Barrett Carter said Woods is “manhandling offensive linemen.”

As for where Woods is in his development as a true freshman, Dabo Swinney shared that the Alabama native is already ahead of where former blue-chip defensive tackles Christian Wilkins and Bryan Bresee were early in their Clemson careers. Woods’ position coach, Nick Eason, said Woods has the potential to be one of the best linemen to ever come through the program.

Mukuba was aware of the buzz being generated by Woods but needed to see it with his own eyes to believe it. And after Mukuba checked Woods out for himself, it validated what people were saying about the 6-foot-2, 300-pounder who enrolled early in January.

“To be honest, I was hearing about him. Like, the first couple practices, I was hearing about him and then when I was watching film, I started really paying close attention to Peter,” Mukuba said. “So, just me focusing more on the D-line and seeing what they’re doing and noticing what he’s been doing as a young guy is really special, man.”

“Everybody say Peter Woods this, Peter Woods that. I was like OK cool, but let me go check the film, see what he really talking about,” Mukuba added. “And once I did that, I was impressed. I’m not going to lie, I was impressed. I ain’t never seen no young guy come in and do that, what he’s doing. It’s really impressive.”

A product of Thompson (Ala.) High, Woods was the highest-rated signee in Clemson’s 2023 recruiting class. ESPN, Rivals and the 247Sports Composite all rated him as a five-star recruit and top-35 national prospect regardless of position. He was ranked as high as the No. 4 overall prospect nationally by ESPN, which billed him as the best defender in his class.

So, what specifically is it about Woods that stands out to Mukuba?

“He’s just big and strong,” Mukuba said. “Like I said, this dude’s supposed to be in high school and he’s out here shoving dudes, throwing dudes that’s been here for a while. But I can’t wait to see what he can do, though, when it comes time to play, and for as long as he’s here, I can’t wait to see how good he gets. Because I feel like he’s only going to keep getting better, and that’s going to be scary because he’s already good now.”

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