LSU Country

LSU Football Newcomer Profile: PJ Woodland Making a Name for Himself in Baton Rouge

Woodland looks to lock in starting cornerback duties during Fall Camp in August, continues turning heads.

Zack Nagy

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The LSU cornerback room remains a position group of significant intrigue with the return of secondary coach Corey Raymond.

Raymond, an architect of "DBU" in Baton Rouge, has a group with both returning talent and fresh faces as they begin a new era in Death Valley.

One of the new faces in the cornerback room is true freshman PJ Woodland.

The youngster has already started turning heads after skyrocketing up the depth chart during his first spring in Baton Rouge as an early-enrollee.

Woodland, a Mississippi native who committed to the Tigers last fall, took first-team reps during spring football on the opposite side of sophomore cornerback Ashton Stamps.

It's no surprise that Woodland is impressing so early. Ask defensive coordinator Blake Baker who summed it up best during the spring:

“Competitiveness. PJ Woodland is a competitor,” Baker said of Woodland.“He’s feisty, he’s physical, and he can run. More than anything, for a freshman, we’ve thrown him out there with the ones some and thrown him out there against our top receivers and he competes. That’s where it starts, but he has the physical tools. He has long levers, he’s physical and he can run, so I’ve been impressed with him. It wasn’t easy. Those first three days before spring break I guarantee you he was saying ‘what in the world did I do coming here early?’ but he’s been really impressive these last few days.”

Woodland will continue putting on size after checking in at 5-foot-11, 160 pounds once on campus, but the physicality and intangibles are certainly there. He's feisty as Baker said and continues taking that next step in a cornerback room that has players pushing for first team reps.

For most of spring practice, it was Stamps and Javien Toviano who handled the starting reps, but towards the end of camp, Woodland continued making a name for himself after earning first-team reps of his own alongside Stamps. Toviano took second-team reps to close out spring ball.

It's a different scheme than a season ago. LSU will work in a press coverage set for the most part under Baker and cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond where it allows the Tigers to be more physical.

“It’s based on personnel,” Baker said of playing press man. “If you got two guys you can put out there on an island it makes life a lot easier as a defensive coordinator. It comes down to who you have personnel wise, then really trying to present the same picture to the quarterback and the defensive coordinator pre-snap and giving those guys an opportunity to not have to sit there and play press man every single snap because it does get tiring. We’re going to play a lot of man, but I also know we’re going to do what’s best for our guys back there as well.”

Now, the four-star cornerback has an opportunity to start as a true freshman in Baton Rouge as he continues shining during the offseason.

As it stands right now, Woodland and Stamps are the first-team cornerbacks with Fall Camp vastly approaching in early August.

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Zack Nagy

ZACK NAGY

Zack Nagy is the Managing Editor and Publisher of LSU Country, a Sports Illustrated Publication. Nagy has covered Tiger Football, Basketball, Baseball and Recruiting, looking to keep readers updated on anything and everything involving LSU athletics. 

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