photo by: Zac Boyer

Baker running back and Lawrence High grad JD Woods poses for a portrait at the Lawrence High School football stadium on April 24, 2022.

JD Woods is standing a dozen yards from the north end zone of Lawrence High’s football field when the cirrocumulus clouds stretch thin enough to let the sun shine through.

It’s a chilly Sunday morning, the temperature only in the mid-50s, and as Woods feels the light warm his skin and envelop the artificial turf field, he stretches his arms parallel to the ground, cranes his neck and closes his eyes.

“Do you feel that?” Woods yells, a question meant more so rhetorically than for any of his training partners.

He stands still for a moment, the smooth flows of Lil Gotit playing mutedly on a portable speaker Woods has set up alongside the field. He turns back toward his trainer, Jeff Colter, and his training partner on the day, Free State junior Tay Ware, then gets ready to run through Colter’s dummy pads once more.

It should be an off day for Woods, who would have much more company were it any other day. The running back, though, asked for the special session with Colter because he has reached a point when he cannot afford a day off.

That’s because the Lawrence High grad and national collegiate record-holder at Baker may be selected in the late rounds of the three-day NFL Draft, which begins Thursday. Although football truisms hold that scouts can find professional players anywhere, realistically, it’s an opportunity rarely presented to players from small universities.

There can be no let-up, then, not after what Woods has achieved. He tucks the point of a football into the inside of his right elbow as Colter resets the three pads, clustering them into a vertical bundle. Woods exhales, digs the toes of his cleats into the granulated rubber and takes off, lowering his head before breaking through.

Running a long road

Woods has already learned how one person’s decision, made miles away, can affect the trajectory of another’s football career.

The 2016 graduate of Lawrence High thought he had his future mapped out when he enrolled at Missouri Western, a Division II school, that summer. The controversial dismissal of longtime coach Jerry Partridge after his first losing season in more than a decade left that plan in tatters.

Woods redshirted, meaning he never played a down for the Griffons. He didn’t want to sit out another year by enrolling at a similar school, but he didn’t want to give up on football.

Transferring, though, seemed to be the best route to success, and it wasn’t long before the world began pointing him toward Baker. He heard frequently from its coaches, who texted him photos of championship rings. A family friend recommended the school because of its academics. And when Woods was playing on his phone one night, a video clip of the Wildcats’ appearance in the NAIA championship game in 2016 popped up.

“I’m like, ‘This is God telling me I need to go to Baker,” Woods says.

As an NAIA school, Baker allowed Woods to compete immediately. He played his first three seasons and was eligible for a fourth with the Wildcats because of his redshirt year. He then opted to play a fifth season last fall because of the relief granted to players amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A three-time All-America selection by the American Football Coaches Association, Woods finished his five seasons at Baker with eye-popping numbers: 1,057 carries for NAIA records of 6,666 yards and 96 touchdowns. He also had 66 catches for 812 yards and five touchdowns, returned a free kick for a touchdown, gained 7,613 all-purpose yards and even threw three touchdown passes.

“He’s not afraid to work hard,” Baker coach Jason Thoren says. “No matter what you’re doing, if that’s your mentality, you’ve got a good shot of being successful.”

photo by: Zac Boyer

Baker running back and Lawrence High grad JD Woods competes at the Kansas pro day on March 9, 2022.

Changing the narrative

Sixteen scouts formed a half-circle long after Kansas wrapped up its pro day workouts. Woods, an interloper in his orange Baker T-shirt, stood at the center of their gaze.

Woods had secured an invite to the event, meant for the Jayhawks to showcase their NFL Draft hopefuls, as pro teams remained curious about the significance of the running back’s statistics.

An hour or so earlier, Woods, who measured 5-foot-5 5/8 inches and 193 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.44 seconds — a time that would have been 11th among running backs at the NFL combine. It ranks 15th among the top 130 draftable players at the position, according to data compiled by The Athletic.

Those who hadn’t noticed Woods beforehand did that day.

“Where did everyone get this narrative from that I was slow?” Woods said then. “You can see it on the film.”

Training for the pro day only began in earnest weeks before, once Thoren told Woods he had a future in professional football. Woods, who is working on a master’s degree with an eye toward a career in health care administration, was skeptical.

Together, they worked with athletic director Nate Houser and the university to craft a plan that allows Woods to continue his classwork remotely. Woods then turned to Josh Bledsoe, an older brother of Lawrence High classmate and friend Amani Bledsoe, who has played the last three seasons in the NFL, to help him train.

“Guys like him, you’re scared of letting him down, as opposed to him letting me down,” Josh Bledsoe says. “He wants it so bad — and you can tell.”

At Kansas’ indoor practice facility, scouts recorded Woods’ measurables and put him through a variety of tests. He took part in drills meant for running backs, then caught passes and joined another sixth-year senior, Kansas’ Kwamie Lassiter II, in simulating punt and kickoff returns.

Before the event began, Thoren told Woods to be confident and act like he belonged. There was no doubt about that afterward, with each of the scouts telling Woods their teams would be in touch.

“JD belonged, and it really showed,” Thoren says.

Ready for the next step

Woods takes care to fold the JUGS machine carefully into the trunk of his Impala LTZ, making sure the ball thrower doesn’t rattle while he drives nor damage the sound system he had installed.

He may be good at football, but he’s gotten great at conceiving workouts.

“We’ve done some crazy stuff,” Woods says. “As long as we can get our work in within an hour, we’re good.”

Not long ago, Bledsoe had Woods drive to Lenexa and run the dam at Shawnee Mission Lake. He thought Woods, and the others working out with him, could run the incline eight times. After the second climb, they were heaving. After the fifth, they called it off.

On the drive home, Woods had to pull over. He was cramping.

Many NFL prospects spend the weeks leading up to the draft receiving specialized training at top-of-the-line facilities. Those can be costly, and Woods decided early he’d rather train with Colter, the Bledsoes and others whom he trusts.

Woods has trained at Baker’s stadium, both Lawrence high schools and at Rock Chalk Park. When COVID-19 cases surged because of the omicron variant in January, forcing the closure of Sports Pavilion Lawrence to the public for three weeks, Woods’ mother, Katrice Woods, rented it so he could continue to work out.

“He knew he was going to do great things and be good, but when you talk about the highest level, it’s one in a million,” says Colter, a longtime coach at LHS who began his first season as the defensive coordinator at Topeka High in the fall. “I definitely believe in him and I believe in his abilities, so it’s just been awesome to see, awesome to be a part of.”

Woods has heard from several NFL teams in the last week, including the Miami Dolphins, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Detroit Lions — none of whom had previously reached out.

New England Patriots running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri called Woods on FaceTime one morning late last week, turned his camera toward a video screen and immediately asked Woods to break down film. Dolphins scout Chris Buford told him, “Our whole organization loves you.”

Still, Woods’ expectation is to not be drafted. In that case, he would gain some leverage: He could negotiate with every team, choose those that have a greater need for a running back and leverage contract offers.

Woods would welcome either outcome. After roughly an hour of goal-line drills and catching passes at Lawrence High with Colter and Ware, and with the sun shining for only the last 30 minutes or so, Woods winds down his workout and begins gathering his belongings — his gray Baker sweatshirt, his backpack, his cellphones, the speaker.

Colter tells him they have another workout scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. Woods nods, but he needs no reminder.

“It’s the start of a great week,” he says.