Senior Deshawn Woods announced his commitment to Missouri football this past summer. Woods, who is listed as an offensive guard, is the first overall ranked player in the state and the 142 overall ranked player in the country for the class of 2022, according to 247 Sports. “I always like to say that Missouri is the place I need to be to thrive and succeed in life. Yes, the other colleges are good, but Missouri is the one,” Woods says.

In the past couple of years, the Missouri Tigers have put some talent into the NFL including some big-ticket names like Connor McGovern, a center for the Jets, and Broncos quarterback Drew Lock. “When I look at colleges and who they put in the NFL, its more about who was there coaching at the time. I do believe that these are different coaches now, but it’s still great to know like ‘Wow, this is a great place where I know that there’s success at,’” Woods says. “My goal was to go to college and do what’s necessary to get to the NFL, but since I was getting looks from the higher colleges it’s like ‘Wow, thank you.’”

Missouri is currently 2-2, ranked fourth in the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern division. The SEC is one of the most competitive conferences in college football including teams like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana State University, Florida and Georgia. Missouri has won two National Championships in the past, most recently in 2007, but they have yet to win a SEC Conference Championship. “[Missouri] did a really good job, he was mainly recruited by Coach Link and Coach Johnson, Coach Drinkwitz is their head coach, but they were very persistent, they stuck with him throughout the whole process even when we didn’t play because of COVID but they were really thorough and detailed and they worked really hard to get him which is why they got him,” head varsity football coach Jay Landstrom says. “They were consistent and stayed in contact with him.”

Woods says that his work ethic got him to where he is today. “I worked for it. I did the things necessary to get where I need to be at.” A piece of advice he would give to any young aspiring football player would be to never take anything for granted. “Never think that you made it. Ever. Always act like you’re number two even if you’re number one.”

Coach Landstrom attributes his success to his time spent in the weight room. “As long as he puts in the work, continues to get bigger and stronger, the sky is the limit for him. He works a lot in the weight room. Being on the powerlifting team, being out for track, he loves the weight room and really puts in a lot of effort and time in there,” Landstrom says. “He’s a very good player. He’s strong and physical, smart when he plays, he’s one of our captains and he’s excellent in pass protection.”

Woods is excited for the rest of this season, and he has high expectations for the Eagles. “I’m excited to watch our chemistry get better,” Woods says. “For watching us as a team become even more of a team.”