Woodi Washington's first career start reflects 'a guy that we anticipate to play at a high level'
Woodi Washington’s move from safety to cornerback this season has been so smooth for both him and the Oklahoma defense, he earned his first career start last week at Texas Tech.
Tre Norwood got all the attention as he replaced Delarrin Turner-Yell and got two early interceptions that produced Sooner touchdowns.
But it’s Washington who’s been on a steady climb all season — peaking with his fourth-quarter end zone interception against Texas, ascending with a strong performance at TCU, and spiking again with another solid performance as he stepped into the starting lineup for Jaden Davis on Saturday night in Lubbock.
“Continue to be impressed with Woodi,” OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said Tuesday. “He’s a guy we’ve talked about several times over the year. Had the interception against Texas. Just from a consistency standpoint, you watch him in the TCU game, I think a lot of it stemmed from just that.”
Washington is a 5-11, 192-pound redshirt freshman from Murfreesboro, TN. He attended the 2019 Red River Rivalry and learned quickly the magnitude of the game. Washington said the roller-coaster nature of that game, and the Sooners’ dramatic victory in four overtimes, allowed the players to trust the coaches, trust the game plan and trust the process.
Woodi Washington
Joshua R. Gateley / OU Athletics
“Like coach said, we’re going to get adversity during games,” Washington said in Dallas. “We just stuck to what we’ve been doing.”
Much like last year, Grinch seems to have narrowed down his rotation at cornerback to just three players. Davis and Washington are members of the 2019 class, and Tre Brown is a senior. It’s too soon to look ahead — probably much past Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. home game with Kansas, frankly — but by bringing along members of the Sooners’ 2020 recruiting class (D.J. Graham, Joshua Eaton) behind Davis and Washington, the future does look bright.
“One of the things we’re working towards as a defense across the board is consistency,” Grinch said. “What Woodi has done is back up game film, which is critical to a practice week. That suggests a guy that we anticipate to play at a high level on Saturday. That’s something, for instance, that we anticipate as time goes on here, when we talk about depth and having more depth and guys playing at a higher level, that that becomes commonplace.”
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