Before he came to Clemson, Peter Woods was a coveted five-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, ranked as high as the No. 1 defensive lineman and fourth-best prospect in the country, regardless of position, by ESPN.

On July 8, 2022, Woods committed to Clemson, as the Tigers beat out Alabama to land the Alabaster, Ala. native and Thompson High School star.

Woods recently appeared on The Pivot Podcast and was asked how he ended up escaping Tuscaloosa to get to Clemson, as a five-star from Alabama.

Now a rising junior, Woods reflected on his decision to choose Clemson and Dabo Swinney’s program over the Crimson Tide, led by then Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

“It was tough, but the family atmosphere is just so captivating, man,” Woods said. “I always tell people – because it’s hard to understand when you’ve never experienced it – but I’ve always told people, you’ve just got to go there and you’ve got to feel it for yourself, or it’s really not going to hit you.

“From the outside looking in, it probably doesn’t look like much. But when you get there and get around the people, it’s like they’re pouring something in the water around there. They probably got me too, because I’m really bought in to the vision. And that’s really what our whole team, our whole program, is really built around – just everybody being bought in to a vision.”

Woods added that Clemson is a “player-led program,” with Swinney affording his players that freedom to lead.  

“Me, T.J. (Parker) and some other guys, we take initiative on the front end trying to make sure that everything’s good (in the) offseason, season, everything. Coach Swinney gives us that type of power,” Woods said. “So, just little stuff like that is stuff that makes our program different, I feel like.”

As a sophomore last season, Woods split time between defensive tackle and defensive end, recording 32 tackles (8.5 for loss), 3.0 sacks and a forced fumble in 391 defensive snaps over 11 games (10 starts).

After enrolling at Clemson in January 2023, Woods went on to earn freshman All-American honors as a true freshman, when he posted 27 tackles (2.5 for loss) and a forced fumble in 307 snaps over 12 games (two starts), to go along with 10 quarterback pressures, the most of any Clemson defensive tackle.

Ahead of the upcoming season, Woods was named a 2025 preseason All-American by Pro Football Focus.