Sophomore and defensive edge Hudson Woods received offers from the University of Houston, U.S. Naval Academy, University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Texas El Paso within days of each other after this football season.
Woods accumulated 67 tackles, 14 sacks, 16 hurries, 3 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery over the season, and finished his final game of the year, the state championship game, with 5 total tackles, 2 solo tackles and 1 tackle for loss in the state game.
Woods is ranked 24 for Defensive Linemen in the state of Texas, according to Texas Top Talent, he is ranked 2 for Edge Rushers in the class of 2026, according to Texas High School Football rankings, and is classified as a 3 star on the recruiting site One3 Elite.
Despite the increased amount of attention Woods is getting, he is not focused on the rankings or recruitment and is just focused on the upcoming season.
“I mean it’s pretty cool to have that, but it doesn’t really mean that much to me,” Woods said. “I mean it’s obviously cool to have that title, but it doesn’t really affect your play. You’re the same as someone who isn’t known but still really good at what they do.”
Woods stands at 6ft 3in and 200 pounds at the young age of 16. Despite his youth, Woods was starting on the varsity team, and he is grateful for the opportunities he was given.
“It’s a pretty big honor,” Woods said. “It’s really just a blessing to get that opportunity and to see my hard work pay off.”
Head football coach Larry Hill has taken notice of Wood’s work ethic and had high remarks for his skills and dedication.
“God’s blessed him with some size and some ability but a commitment to refine it and a commitment to be focused and to play hard sometimes doesn’t go hand and hand, but he seems to have that, which has been able to set him apart,” Hill said.
Woods describes his regular season varsity experience as a routine.
“I treat it like every other practice, putting my pads on and everything, but obviously there’s a little more significance to it, so I’m definitely more locked in throughout the day, but other than that theirs not really nothing much to it,” Woods said.
Despite his limited playoff experience, Woods maintained consistency in his ways of thinking during the state championship game.
“(The state game is) the exact same thing as a normal game because if you try and do something different, that’s when everything goes wrong,” Woods said. “I just treated it like every other game that I played and everything that I did.”
His driven attitude has helped his success despite having to sit out during his freshman season. Woods had a stress fracture in his back from growing too fast and was only able to play in two games.
“To play as well as he played as a sophomore and rack up the kind of statistics that he did with having virtually no freshman year is pretty remarkable,” Hill said. “I say that because he still hasn’t played a lot of football. We played 16 games last year so he still got a lot of football ahead of him”.
With only 18 games under his belt, Woods has earned six offers, multiple high-rankings at his position, and starting experience on a championship competing team.
His team first mindset and production is reminiscent of his brother, alum Gavin Woods.
“Gavin was very driven as well, very much a team oriented guy, very physically gifted, had a passion for the game, very program oriented, good teammate, good leader, so you see those same traits out of Hudson even though he’s a bit younger,” Hill said.
Hudson is paving his own path in football, further solidifying the Wood’s family legacy, and proving his value in this program and its future.
“I started playing when I was 4 years old,” Woods said. “Everyone always saw (Gavin) first, and they knew he was really good, so I knew I was going to have to live up to the name too. (I’m going to) have to make a statement for myself.”
