Late last week Notre Dame added another verbal commitment to the Class of 2010 when cornerback Lo Wood picked the Irish over the likes of Stanford, Michigan, Virginia, and Georgia Tech.
Wood, a Florida native, was the first corner back to be offered a scholarship this year by Charlie Weis and staff and became the first defensive back in this year’s class. Wood might not be the last Florida cornerback to join this class either. Fellow Floridians Cody Riggs and Spencer Boyd are also strongly considering the Irish and would give Notre Dame an outstanding trio of corners.
The weather in South Bend was used against Notre Dame in the recruitment of the Sunshine State corner, but it didn’t play a factor in his decision. Notre Dame’s consistent presence on TV as Wood was growing up, however, was a factor according to what he told the South Bend Tirbune.
“A lot of schools tried to say it’s going to get cold,” Wood said. “But if you want to play in the NFL, you’ve got to go to Green Bay sometimes. And it’s going to be cold there, so you better get used to it.”
Wood got used to Notre Dame being on TV constantly when he was growing up.
“That’s kind of where the recruiting process started,” he said.
SunStateFootball.com gave Wood a glowing endorsement after his commitment to Notre Dame.
Notre Dame picks up one of most skilled CB’s from the Sunshine State. A pure corner who is ahead of the curve, Wood has the opportunity to see the field early in his career. Lo will hit from his corner spot and is capable of excelling in both zone and man schemes. Wood is more quick than fast and has above average size for a CB prospect. Due to extensive playing time at CB, Wood has a tremendous feel for the position.
ESPN’s Scouting Report of Wood, describes a corner that should fit in very well in Notre Dame’s blitz happy defense.
Has good body control and change-of-direction quickness when playing off-man coverages. Will walk up and play press aggressively as well; knows how to use his hands to take away leverage, but lacks the upper-body strength at this time needed to reroute and jam bigger receivers of the line. Best asset may be his ability to recover in the short-area with burst and quickness. Anticipates the pass well and undercuts a lot of balls.
If Jon Tenuta’s blitz schemes start coming together in 2009 as they have in his previous stints as a defensive coordinator, a corner with excellent cover skills on underneath routes will be essential for Notre Dame making Wood an excellent addition to this class.
Wood had originally been leaning towards Michigan early on in the recruiting process, but Notre Dame pulled even with the Wolverines after the Blue Gold game. Wood is planning on graduating early and enrolling at Notre Dame in January to get a jump start on his college career.
