Yurcich built relationship with incoming quarterback
Jelani Woods, an incoming quarterback from Georgia, said offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich is one of the big reasons why he’s coming to play at Oklahoma State.
Jelani Woods didn’t have sheet music when he learned the drums. He listened. Followed the beat.
When the Oklahoma State quarterback signee wasn’t leading Cedar Grove High School to its first ever Class 3A Georgia state championship, he banged out melodies in his local church band. The rhythm might play well as the soundtrack to Woods’ football highlights. Striking touchdowns like cymbals.
“He learns by just listening, and now, he’s an expert at playing the drums,” his father, Greg Woods, told The Oklahoman last spring. “Anything he puts his hands on, he does well.”
The national reach of OSU’s quarterback recruiting proved fruitful with Rock Hill, S.C., native Mason Rudolph, and now, it has reached 900 driving miles east to Ellenwood, Ga., a southeast Atlanta suburb. Woods has arrived in Stillwater as an early enrollee, but his connection to the program has existed now for nine months, time elapsed since Woods verbally committed in April. OSU offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich even worked an Atlanta satellite camp that Woods’ attended.
“We built a really strong relationship,” Woods said last spring. “That’s really what put them over the top.”
Woods led Cedar Grove to a 13-2 record this fall and threw for 2,316 yards with 26 touchdowns. His 6-foot-6 frame projects he’ll develop into a drop-back threat at OSU, but Woods also ran for double-digit scores as a senior. Woods’ coach, Jermaine Smith, said, “He’s long, but he can cover a lot of ground and has quick enough feet that he can make a play.”
Smith raved about the growth of Woods’ immediate passing game in addition to an accurate deep ball, but will remember his now-former quarterback’s voice as much as his play. It rang loud as a vocal leader his senior season. When Cedar Grove was driving down for a score against top-ranked Greater Atlanta Christian in the Georgia Dome last month for the state title, Woods drew up a play that finished in the end zone.
“Jelani was the one who came up with the idea,” Smith said. “He told me what they were doing on defense, and he kind of called it out.”
Woods was drawn to OSU thanks to scheme, as his high school ran a similar system to OSU’s flexible spread. On Dec. 6, Yurcich visited Woods’ Georgia home. It was another chance to mold the young football mind, and as Woods puts it, “let them craft me to what they want me to be.”
Woods will need to be a quick learner. It is expected come early March when he receives his first college reps during OSU spring practices.
Woods will do his best to follow the rhythm.
It’s worked with drum sticks in hand.
“I didn’t know he was so talented, man,” Smith said. “Basketball, drums, football; he never tried baseball, but I bet you he could do that, too.”