When he laid eyes on Peter Woods as a freshman in high school, Clemson defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall was highly impressed.

“Coach (Dabo) Swinney talks about, ‘You know it when you see it.’ I saw Peter Woods as a freshman, and I was like ‘wow,’” Hall said recently. “You don’t get to see many guys like that … I’m happy he’s on our team.”

As a freshman, Woods tallied 54 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He finished his career at Thompson High (Alabaster, Ala.) with 260 tackles, 72 tackles for loss and 29.5 sacks.

Fast forward to the present, and Hall remains very impressed by Woods, who has generated no shortage of buzz and hype with his play on the practice fields this spring.

“He’s a physical kid, he’s twitched-up,” Hall said. “He plays with tremendous effort. He had a great D-line coach coming out of high school, so the foundation for him is already there. He’s a competitor, he’s hungry. He’s all those things.”

Listed at 6-foot-2, 300 pounds, Woods enrolled at Clemson in January after signing with the Tigers as a five-star recruit in December. He was ranked as high as the nation’s No. 4 prospect in the 2023 class by ESPN, which billed him as the best defender in his class regardless of position.

While Woods is primarily playing on the interior defensive line right now, Hall believes the athletic and versatile Woods is capable of lining up anywhere along the defensive front – and Hall says the Tigers will utilize his skill set how they best see fit.

“Peter Woods can play anywhere he wants to on the D-line. He’s just that good,” Hall said. “Right now, he’s been playing mostly inside. But he’s going to play wherever we need him to play, and he can do it. He can play that position at a high level as well. So if we need him to play at an end position, that’s where he’ll play.”

Dear Old Clemson has added the Tiger Sack Pack to our online store.  Save by getting the Two Pack of signed cards from two of the nation’s top defensive ends, Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. 

Dear Old Clemson is doing NIL the ‘Clemson way’, but we need your help to make sure we build a sustainable, repeatable model that will help keep Clemson competitive with the other top programs around the nation.

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