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Oklahoma State Football

Who Would Have Thunk It? First Cowboy Picked is Jelani Woods

April 29, 2022
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STILLWATER – He spent four-years in Stillwater and after being recruited as a quarterback out of Cedar Grove High School in Ellenwood, Ga., and moving to Cowboy back (tight end) Jelani Woods caught 31 passes for 361-yards and four touchdowns. His blocking improved, but then Woods went into the NCAA Transfer Portal and wound up in Virginia.

Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports
Woods at Virginia

Apparently, the Cavaliers had a Midas touch in developing Woods as he more than doubled his career numbers in Stillwater with 44 receptions for 598-yards and eight touchdowns. He was first-team All-ACC and got some attention for All-American and the John Mackey Award for top tight end in college football.

On Friday night (April 29) the Indianapolis Colts made him the second tight end selected with the 73rd pick in the NFL Draft and the ninth pick in the third round.

Again, Woods numbers in Stillwater as a tight end were:

Year Rec. Yards Avg.  TDs Drops
2018 7 120 17.1 2 1
2019 16 112 7.0 1 0
2020 8 129 16.1 1 3
2021 at UVA 44 598 13.6 8 5
Totals 75 959 12.8 12 9

Woods is 6-07.1, 253-pounds. He ran a 4.61 in the forty, had a 37.5 vertical, 10’9” broad jump, 4.33 on the 5-10-5 shuttle, and 24 on the bench press rep. 

Discussion from...

Who Would Have Thunk It? First Cowboy Picked is Jelani Woods

4,790 Views | 15 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Orangeheart72
AustinCowboy88
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7:55a, 4/30/22
Good on Jelani

Switch from QB to TE

Switch from OSU to VA.

Both of these moves seemed to really help him land a 3rd round selection. Impressive.

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CaliforniaCowboy
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8:39a, 4/30/22
this is a little known fact, but kids have a better chance of catching balls when they are actually thrown in their direction..... you don't get many receptions blocking all the time. what the heck is a CW anyway?
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missouripoke
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9:47a, 4/30/22
This is why he got out of here. Coaches dropped the ball on this guy.
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CaliforniaCowboy
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In reply to missouripoke • 9:52a, 4/30/22
missouripoke said:
This is why he got out of here. Coaches dropped the ball on this guy.
he did his own fair share of dropping the ball, including 5 at WV.... but how many kids have we had leave from that position?

IMO, it's now a position with no purpose. Who do they practice with? the WRs? The RBs? the special teams?

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thetruth
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9:55a, 4/30/22
We don't use the CBB position in the passing game enough. Jarwin has been in the NFL for a few years now, and would have been a starter except for injuries. We rarely threw to him. I never thought much of Woods hands, but we certainly didn't develop him like Virginia did. If we aren't going to use them for anything but blocking and pass protection we've wasted a position that a ton of other schools use regularly. This is a big miss on our offensive staff's part.
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OT
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In reply to CaliforniaCowboy • 9:56a, 4/30/22
Cowboy Back = cute name for TE/FB. Was it McAdoo that put it in place to convince kids to walk on?
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missouripoke
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In reply to thetruth • 9:57a, 4/30/22
Well said!
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CaliforniaCowboy
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In reply to OT • 10:23a, 4/30/22
I think it was created as a result of Gundy wanting to put more blockers in the backfield and bolster the short-field run game, after Holgy had dumped all the TEs with his air-raid system.

all I can tell you is that we use to have very good FBs AND TEs, back in the day. Now we have neither.

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TeaTownCowboy
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1:50p, 4/30/22
I wish I could say I am surprised. We just don't, for whatever goofy reason, throw to the Cowboy Backs enough. Too skurred to throw over the middle!!! Use them or get rid of the position and put another WR out there.
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Ok_state_fan78
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2:11p, 4/30/22
I get so tired of the if you throw to him deal. I watched him in extreme camp and the last year at OSU and he dropped too many passes. I do not know what they did at Va. but he caught it a lot better there. But, he is a Va. selection to the NFL not a Cowboy. He left a Fiesta Bowl winner for a 6-6 Va. team.
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Orangeheart72
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2:30p, 4/30/22
I wasn't surprised and Robert likely doesn't want to say it, but I don't think he was surprised either. I recall an article or two RA wrote that referred to Jelani as a potential game impact player getting ready to surprise someone. But as said above, we seemingly didn't trust him enough or give him enough opportunities to shine. A 6'7" receiving TE might have given us a Big XII Championship on that last drive in Jerry's World last year. We'll never know, but wish him the best and hope he still has some Cowboys family love in his heart.
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TUSKAPOKE
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4:14p, 4/30/22
UNDERUTILIZED HERE.....TOO BAD!!! GO POKES!!!
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Robert Allen
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5:48p, 4/30/22
Staff
I wasn't surprised. I was always a fan of working Jelani hard, developing him, using him, and making him a star. He is huge and very athletic for his size.
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Zen
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7:45p, 4/30/22
He did not have good hands while at OSU and therefore could not be counted on to catch the ball as a Cowboy.
So I don't blame OSU coaches. UVA coaching staff must have worked miracles with him. He left a good OSU team for a weak UVA team but it landed him in the NFL. He would not have made the NFL if he had remained a blocker for OSU.
I too would like to see CBB eliminated in favor of adding another WR.
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Orangeheart72
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10:46p, 4/30/22
I think they're moving towards a differing CW player type and use now. Having a receiver coach for Offensive Coordinator may move the needle. They seemingly have been trying to recruit TE's rather than just building up walk-on CW's of late. You would think ISU might have affected this some.
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