Woods is emerging as a star at linebacker
In Towson’s 29-21 victory over Morgan State on Saturday night, middle linebacker Mason Woods finished with a stat line to envy: six tackles, one sack, one interception and one pass breakup.
And then there was the one that got away. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Woods dropped back in a Cover 3 alignment, a zone defense with corners and safeties protecting the deep thirds of the field, and noticed senior running back Alonzo Graham running a seam route. Woods undercut Graham’s route and timed a jump perfectly to intercept a pass from graduate student quarterback Carson Baker — only to watch the ball go through his hands and fall to the turf for an incompletion.
“I was right there. I just let that one go,” Woods said three days after the game. “Any pick that’s dropped is a regret. For my mindset, I dropped it, so it was on to the next play. After I dropped it, I was trying to go get another one to make up for it.”
That dropped interception was one of the few blemishes in the 6-foot, 220-pound redshirt freshman’s season thus far. In two games, he ranks second in both total tackles (12) and tackles for loss (1 for the Tigers (2-0), who will meet West Virginia (0-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown.
In his first year as a full-time starter, Woods’ play has been embraced by his teammates.
“It’s real fun,” junior safety Ubayd Steed said of playing with Woods. “Everybody’s flying to the ball, and he communicates real well. He’s got great instincts, and a lot of times, he’s at middle linebacker. So I’m feeding right off of him. I always tell him, ‘Play fast, and I’m going to just make you right.’ A lot of times, he just makes that right play. So I like playing with him.”
At just 19, Woods is the youngest starter on the defense and second-youngest starter overall, trailing only true freshman left tackle Dan Volpe. Coach Rob Ambrose said he doesn’t see Woods’ youth as a disadvantage.
“He’s earned that spot,” Ambrose said. “That’s not a gamble by any sense of the imagination. He’s been grinding to be the starting linebacker since the day he got here. He’s a fairly confident kid, he’s resilient. I’m saying it right now: before that kid graduates from here, he’s going to be a captain, and he will lead that defense on his own.”
Being one of the youngest players on the field is familiar territory for Woods. When he enrolled as a freshman at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, Virginia, he was a 13-year-old middle linebacker who stood at 5-9 and weighed 165 pounds.
Those factors helped convince coach Tony Keiling Sr. to initially slot Woods on the junior varsity squad.
“I expected him to play JV,” Keiling recalled. “All my coaches were like, ‘He’s’ ready.’ I was like, ‘No, he’s too small, he’s a freshman.’ But when he put the equipment on and with his mindset of being physical and understanding football, it was shocking to me, to be honest.”
Even as a freshman, Woods was tasked with making the calls on defense, informing his teammates of certain schemes and lining up his teammates in appropriate spots.
Keiling said the coaches tried an older teammate at safety in that role, but agreed that Woods was the better choice.
“He just knew the game of football,” Keiling said. “... He was a little bit ahead of his time as a leader.”
Woods, who gained two inches and 20 pounds between his freshman and sophomore years, said he relished the responsibility of making the defensive calls.
“I just like putting people in positions where they can make plays,” said Woods, who was named the Cardinal District Defensive Player of the Year in 2019 and helped Gar-Field go undefeated and capture a Cardinal District title in 2021. “In high school, I used to have meetings with our D-line, and I’d show them things that they probably wouldn’t see on their own. I was just trying to make them more comfortable when they were on the field. I still do that. I tell our D-line, ‘Just have fun. I’m going to do my best to make you right.’ ”
Initially verbally committing to Louisiana-Monroe in July 2020, Woods changed his mind due to a coaching change and chose Towson over Howard and Liberty.
In his first season with the Tigers, Woods sat after being redshirted for the 2021 campaign.
He was named the scout team Defensive Player of the Year.
“At first, it was hard adjusting to not being a factor and helping on Saturdays,” Woods said.
Steed said he tried to keep Woods’ spirits up.
“A lot of times, redshirting, you get discouraged because that’s not how it was,” he said. “In high school, you were the man. But in college at this level of competition, everybody is good. I would talk to him sometimes when he would get discouraged. I kept saying, ‘You’ll see it. Pick it up.’ And he would pop right back and play at that level that he needed to play.”
At Towson, Woods said he has been relying on older teammates like graduate student inside linebacker Ryan Kearney (Howard), redshirt senior safety Robert Topps III and Steed to accelerate his learning curve. Ambrose said pairing Woods with Kearney has been beneficial for Woods.
“Mason lines up right next to him,” Ambrose said. “He’s the perfect example of what Mason will be eventually. Does Ryan take the steering wheel? Yeah, but if he’s missing something, Mason is stepping in right away.”
In Saturday’s win against Morgan State, Woods came away with career firsts with his interception in the second quarter and sack in the third. The interception showed off his instincts as he tracked a ball batted up by graduate student outside linebacker Tramar Reese and made an over-theshoulder catch that the offense converted into its first touchdown.
“I wear a neck roll, so I couldn’t put my head straight back,” Woods said. “So I had to lean my whole back trying to find it, and luckily, it just dropped right into my hands.”
Added Ambrose: “We don’t practice that. That was true athleticism on Mason’s part.”
Woods’ play has been closely followed by Keiling and Woods’ former teammates at Gar-Field.
“We’ve seen it coming,” Keiling said. “He’s taken all of those steps. I’m not surprised. Hopefully, Towson is not surprised.”
While Ambrose predicted that Woods will emerge as an All-Colonial Athletic Association linebacker, Woods said his top objective is more team-related.
“I just want to be part of a top five defense in the country, and I feel like we have the guys to do it,” he said. “I want to be a factor, and I want to be a part of that. I’m not really worried about being the best linebacker. I’m just worried about doing my job.”