Woods' progression leads Pitt's developing defensive backs

A.J. Woods' sophomore season has been much like Pitt's football year, full of rollercoaster performances with highs and lows.

Just like Pitt started red hot at 3-0, then went on a four-game losing streak before rebounding with back-to-back ACC wins, Woods began the season as the team's starting cornerback, but would lose the job to Marquis Williams in the early games.

But over the past month and half, he's rebounded and given the team hope to have a young secondary on the rise for 2021.

Pat Narduzzi made sure to praise Woods for his progress this season when asked which young players had impressed him the most in their development during the 2020 season.

"I'll start after that BC game, seems a lot of COVID tests ago," Narduzzi said. "We played two quarters in that game and wore them both out, and when you look at the progress that really -- you could talk Marquis Williams is young, but AJ Woods was the guy that came in after that game when we said we're going to have to play him, and A.J. has really played pretty darned good I feel. I cannot tell you I'm disappointed in him at all; really happy with him."

Narduzzi also expanded that praise to other young defensive backs who had worked their way from just being special teams players to contributing more on defense. 

"Rashad Battle has come in and made some plays there, as well. Erick Hallett, yet another young guy that's getting his feet wet, last week at safety, starting against Florida State at corner," the coach said.

But Woods' journey as a player in 2020 has been the most interesting. He started the season as the team's starting cornerback opposite of senior Jason Pinnock. He was the youngest member of a secondary that boasted two seniors in Pinnock and Damar Hamlin, as well as star safety Paris Ford.

In that first blowout performance against Austin Peay, Woods made a mistake that was arguably the team's biggest of the game. In the first quarter he was in man defense on a deep crossing pattern and did a good job at the start of the route, but failed to keep running with his man and got beat deep:

Not a huge mistake, but one that got him benched.

Williams came in and impressed with five tackles against Syracuse, and interceptions against Louisville and Miami with four breakups throughout the season.

But Woods didn't give up on the season after his demotion, battling on special teams to make it tough for gunners on punt teams to get after Pitt's returners.

Eventually, Woods got his shot at redemption and started to shine.

Even when he was beat, you could see Woods competing well and forcing quarterbacks to hit tight passing windows. Here's a perfect example of that against Trevor Lawrence, when Woods was against Cornell Powell on a deep 70-yard bomb. 

But look at Woods' positioning when the pass is completed. He has no safety help so he has to establish inside leverage to get in between Lawrence and Powell to force the ball to be over his head and have a chance to play a pass that might come up short. Lawrence just makes the perfect throw, proving why he's the best player in college football and Powell makes a great one-handed catch:

But again, Woods never lost his grit.

Woods would get targeted more in this game and would stick to his fundamentals, even breaking up another big play. Watch how he keeps his eyes on his receiver to fight through the hands and break up a deep ball.

Young cornerbacks often get caught looking in the backfield or looking for the ball too soon on these passes, but Woods keeps his eyes on the hands of his man and reacts just in time to disrupt the play:

That's sticking to it.

Woods even got his first career interception in a play that proved to be the catalyst for an 11-point comeback by Pitt against Florida State for the team's first road win of the season.

The Panthers were backed up against it with little going right and still on a four-game losing streak. But while covering a hook pattern, Woods stayed tight on his man and capitalized on a misfire, jumping the pass and securing the interception that sparked a comeback:

Not spectacular, but solid.

And that's what you need to see out of youngsters figuring out how to be consistent players at the collegiate level. Stick to the fundamentals even when things are going wrong to create the answers needed to rebound.

Woods displayed that throughout 2020 and gets another chance to do that in finishing the season against Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium  Thursday at 7 p.m.

• Pitt got a rush of four semifinalists for prestigious national awards Monday, with Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones each being named for the Chuck Bednarik Award, making the Panthers the only team in the country with two pass rushers among the award's semifinalists.

Punter Kirk Christodoulou was named as a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, and kicker Alex Kessman was named for the Lou Groza Award: