Another ASU football player, Ed Woods, headed to portal
Red-shirt senior defensive back Ed Woods became the latest Arizona State football player to enter the transfer portal. And unlike the previous four, head coach Kenny Dillingham admits this one took him by surprise.
Woods, a 6-foot, 180-pounder, was a projected starter at one of the cornerback positions. He has started 13 games, four of those last season. He registered 33 tackles, three tackles for a loss, one interception, four break-ups and two forced fumbles.
His high of six tackles in a game came in back-to-back contests against Washington State and Washington. His interception came against No. 6 Oregon.
Woods was not on the field with the Sun Devils for Monday's practice, the 13th of 15 spring practices. On his X account Monday, Woods reposted another X post reporting he was entering the portal.
"I didn't know that for sure," Dillingham said, when asked about Woods' apparent departure. "Ed's a good player. If he does enter the portal, I have a lot of respect for Ed. I really want Ed to succeed in life. Hopefully, that's here and hopefully, I think I can help him get to where he wants to go. If he's not here, that is a loss for us.
"That is a position that we've got to go get a guy. That wasn't one that I expected, to be honest. Up to this point, it's kind of been what I expected. That was one that would be a curveball and we've got to alter our plan, by one, to replace."
The Sun Devils are deep in the secondary, particularly at safety, so Dillingham said he could slide one of the safeties over to play corner. ASU did get a couple of Division I cornerback transfers there in Javan Robinson (Washington State) and Laterrance Welch (LSU). True freshman Rodney Bimage has also looked good at that position this spring.
Dillingham said he will get with his defensive coaches and consider all options.
The portal is open through April 30 and Woods makes the fifth ASU player to depart since it opened last Tuesday. The others are quarterback Jaden Rashada, wide receiver Elijhah Badger, tight end Bryce Pierre and defensive back R.J. Regan.
Side notes
Monday's practice ended with an interception returned for a touchdown by senior Macen Williams. The pass was thrown by Sam Leavitt, whom Dillingham said Saturday would be his starting quarterback if the season were starting this week. Xavion Alford had an interception earlier in the session, one that was dominated by the defense.
"That was a great play," Dillingham said of the play by Williams. "I'm an offensive guy by nature. I try to put our offense in like really bad situations in two-minute drills like the worst you can create -- you got one minute left and you're down eight, you're on your own minus-10, with no time outs. Like, let's dance. So I try to put us in these situations to fail and to really push. So it was really good. Defense had a lot of takeaways today which was great to see."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Another ASU football player, Ed Woods, headed to portal
