Following official visit to Tempe Deshawn Woods says ASU is in his top two
Deshawn Woods's official visit to Arizona State began how most out-of-towners spend their first hour in the Valley: with a trip to In-N-Out. Woods scarfed down a double-double on Thursday and began a three-day stay in Tempe.
Woods is a four-star offensive tackle from Omaha, Neb., who has collected 16 offers thus far. The 6-foot-5, 295-pound 2022 recruit is the highest-ranked player in Nebraska, a top-25 OT in the country and the No. 153 overall prospect nationwide.
And, as of this weekend, Woods said his top two schools are Arizona State and Missouri. He noted he would be taking an official visit to Tennessee during the third weekend in June, and, the following week, he’ll be on his Missouri official. Woods’ plan is to collect all necessary information with his June visits then commit in July.
After his one official to ASU, it seems the Sun Devils have made quite the impression.
“It went great,” Woods said of his visit. “On the first day we went to breakfast, and then they took us on a campus tour and gave information on academics for athletes. More campus tours. The checked height, weight, all that stuff. We got our photoshoots. More dinner. More lunch. More breakfast. They kept feeding us.”
Woods said he consumed so much food on his visit that by the time he went to Mastro’s Steakhouse, his stomach was too full to handle another calorie.
Aside from eating, though, the visit was a great chance for Woods to interact with the Sun Devil coaching staff. All the people on the other end of his recruiting phone and Zoom calls were finally standing in front of him. The three most influential people on Wood’s recruitment have been head coach Herm Edwards, offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh, and tight end’s coach Adam Breneman. Here’s what he had to say about each:
On Edwards: “He’s so chill. (He spoke about) life. They don’t really talk to you about football until football season. They like to talk about other things outside of football.”
On Cavanaugh: “He’s funny but short. That man is too funny.”
On Breneman: “It’s a great (relationship). There are no secrets anywhere, not even in the coaching staff. Coaches, players, everyone knows everything. The reason they’re becoming better and better is that people are communicating.”
Woods’ player host was redshirt freshman tight end Jalin Conyers – who, along with DJ Taylor and a few other players, took Woods up 'A' Mountain to different restaurants and gave him a feel for Tempe.
Another recruit also on their official visit was Daughtry Richardson, a three-star offensive lineman from Miami. And, throughout the visit, ASU tried to paint a picture for the pair of what they could do together in the maroon and gold.
“They said that me and D-Rich could be playing right next to each other,” Woods said. “They might move me to guard or keep me at tackle and move him to guard. I mean, they might have us both as tackles. I don’t know.
“(On the field), my mindset is just that either I’m going to move you or I’m going to be on my butt. But I’m not going to be on my butt because I know for a fact that I’m going to get cussed out by somebody if I’m on my butt.”
It’s clear that Woods is extremely high on ASU and became even more bullish on the Sun Devils after seeing the campus and meeting the coaches for the first time. His visit was about getting comfortable with a setting instead of being forced to make a decision.
“(The ASU coaches) don’t pressure like trying to commit. Obviously, they say like, ‘See, this is exactly why we need you down here,’” Woods said. “But they’re not like, ‘You need to commit or else.’ Some other schools be like, ‘You should commit here just because of this.’ It’s not like a connection between like me and the school.”
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