Michigan Commit Jaydon Hood Preparing For Standout Senior Season

Michigan inside linebacker commit Jaydon Hood is hard at work throughout the offseason to reach new heights as a senior this fall.

In the lead up to the 2020 season, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas four-star inside linebacker Jaydon Hood will aim to improve on what was an impressive junior campaign at West Palm Beach (Fla.) Cardinal Newman.

“The season went really good,” Hood told Wolverine Digest. “We ended up 8-3. We lost in the first round of the playoffs, but we had a pretty good season. It was a good year. I had 115 tackles, and it just came down to good teamwork that we had, good friendship we all had, that brotherly love we all had for each other.”

Over the offseason, Hood transferred from Cardinal Newman to St. Thomas Aquinas, and this year he will be faced with a new set of challenges. Though Hood produced over 100 tackles a season ago, the Michigan commit will have to learn a new defense and mesh with a new set of teammates.

But despite that hurdle, Hood is determined to help Aquinas produce another banner season. In 2019, the program went 15-0, and Hood should only help bolster what is an already strong Raiders defense.

“Even though 115 tackles is good, I want more,” Hood said. “A goal is to try to get to 150 this year. It will be hard, but that's the goal. The goal is I definitely want to be, in my opinion I feel like even though I'm highly ranked, I still feel like I'm underrated. So, I definitely want to be ranked higher. I feel like I'm the No. 1 linebacker, so I definitely want that spot."

Another goal that is high on Hood's list is to follow in a family tradition of receiving high honors on a state-wide level for his football prowess. 

“With the all-state lists, I feel like all my uncles, grandpas, cousins, they all made it, so I want to make it too,” Hood said. “I'm just going to be ready, be prepared to be the best, so I'll be ready for the second part of my career in football.”

In order to help make this season even more memorable, Hood has worked to build a bond and establish chemistry with his new teammates. For example, St. Thomas Aquinas three-star cornerback Ja'Den McBurrows is a fellow Michigan commit, and the two prospects seem to have a lot in common already.

“It's kind of hard because everything is virtual now, but we are building a relationship,” Hood said. “He's a great dude, a great player. I see him working out, and I see how hard he works out. I'm excited because there's going to be some upset teams when they throw the ball against him. He seems real cool, and he likes to joke around a lot. It's going to be a fun couple of years with him.”

In terms of the upcoming season, Hood and McBurrows are hard at work and training during the offseason so that they can hit the ground running when preseason workouts arrive.

“I have been working on doing muscle work and doing the little muscles,” Hood said. “That's kind of what I've been working on so far, just building the little muscles that people don't really target as much. I don't have a real gym. I have a little bit of weights, and I just use that to work out the little muscles that I normally wouldn't work out and keep my strength up. School is over for me. I'm beginning with a trainer, and I'll be working out three times a day, working on strength, speed, mobility and flexibility. So, now that I'm more free, working out is going to pick up for sure.”

After working on his physical conditioning and particularly his stabilizer muscles, Hood is looking to enter the 2020 season in the best shape of his life, which could spell a dominant season for the Wolverines' linebacker pledge. On tape, Hood is one of the quicker inside linebackers in the country, and he delivers a strong pop at the point of attack as physicality is a strong suit of his.

In all, Hood is one of the more driven and focused prospects in the 2021 class, and he is determined to bring that degree of work ethic and concentration to Ann Arbor in the future.

What is your prediction on a total tackles mark for Hood this season? Will the star-studded defense at Aquinas eat into his total or will his talented teammates help eat up blockers and allow for Hood to move in space and seek out the ball carrier? Let us know!