Peyton Woodyard Talks Growth in Year Two at Oregon
The secondary is arguably the position group with the most intrigue around it during Oregon spring practice. After losing all of the starters from a season ago, Chris Hampton and Rashad Wadood turn to a relatively young group of players to fine their next starters.
Safety Peyton Woodyard transferred from Alabama to Oregon after Nick Saban announced his retirement and is in the mix to see more meaningful snaps as he prepares for his second season with the Ducks. He met with reporters following Tuesday’s practice.
Below are some of his top quotes as well as video of his press conference.
On decision to transfer to Oregon from Alabama
Woodyard: “It was definitely a no-brainer. Just because of the system that Coach Lanning and Coach Tosh run over here. It’s very similar to Saban and I definitely wanted to stay in a defense like that. I think it suits me well and it’s gonna get us prepared for the next level.”
On being the only freshman defender to not redshirt in 2024, his performance
Woodyard: “Alabama had a similar defense before the switch. So I was there learning the defense early and then also in high school my coaches ran the defense. So I’ve been in the system for a while now and I feel like I was able to pick it up pretty quickly.”
On the Oregon standard to him, growth this spring
Woodyard: “We have these three things called connection, growth and toughness. And I feel like we all exemplify that. And I feel like our safety room in particular, we have a lot of young guys, so we’re able to step up this year. Our oldest guy in the safety room is Dillon Thieneman from Purdue. So he’s doing a great job of coming in and bringing us along. But I feel like us as sophomores we have to step up and fill a lot of these roles. And we have the talent to do that.”
On putting himself in a position to stand out and grow
Woodyard: “I feel like we always have to go 100% in everything we do. Whether that’s communication. I feel like that’s a thing that me personally and a lot of the sophomores gotta do is communicate better. We know the defense and now it’s time for us to bring the freshmen along. We have a young guy Trey McNutt. He’s a great player and we’re gonna bring him along and he’s gonna do well and we’re all gonna just keep on making each other better.”
On experience playing and working alongside Dillon Thieneman
Woodyard: “Definitely his work ethic. I’m at the lifting rack with him, so he’s definitely getting me bigger and stronger. I love that guy.”
On having students at Tuesday’s practice, juicing the team up for Saturday
Woodyard: “Yeah it was definitely cool to have them out here. We love our student body, we get to go to class with them every day. Just for them to be able to see the work we put in for them and just put on a show for them. I can’t wait for them to all fill the seats on Saturday.”
On what he’s seen from Dakorien Moore, Cooper Perry, young wide receivers
Woodyard: “Dakorien Moore and Cooper Perry are both very great receivers. I definitely went against them plenty of times in the slot. They’ll get me, I’ll get them and it’s definitely a good iron sharpens iron type of deal we got going on. I’m grateful we were able to get them and bring them along.”
