Eli Woodard made the most of his Midwestern camp circuit this past weekend.
The 6-foot, 170-pound 2013 cornerback from Eastern High School started the trek with no scholarship offers, but after three camps in three days, Woodard returned to Voorhees, N.J., with three offers. Woodard hit camps at Notre Dame, Purdue and Ohio State and all three programs extended offers.
“It’s definitely a great feeling,” Woodard said. “It was like a dream. I could have never guessed this was going to happen over my trip to the Midwest. I just knew I had to ball out, try my best and see what happened.”
The Irish were the first to offer following their one-day camp on Thursday.
“I went through the day of camp, I left campus and came back later because the coach asked me to come back to the Gug,” said Woodard. “We talked about the offer and stuff like that.
“It was definitely an honor to get an offer from a school like Notre Dame. It definitely means a lot. Notre Dame is a traditional school and it’s not easy to get an offer from there. Not everybody gets offers from Notre Dame, especially as their first offer. It was definitely a great honor.”
Woodard, who runs a 4.4, said he showed the Irish staff his footwork, ball skills and love for competition.
“They said I had a great upside and that they could see me getting bigger and coming in and being a great player,” he said. “They loved my competitiveness.”
Woodard also got a chance to learn more about Notre Dame.
“It was great,” he said. “Notre Dame’s campus was one of the most beautiful campuses I’ve been to so far. Everything about it was great. It was just a great experience.
“They said having a degree from Notre Dame will open a lot of doors for me in the long run. It’s definitely a great place to be.”
The first offer was good to get out of the way, but Woodard knew his work wasn’t finished.
“I was relieved and confident at the same time,” he said. “Having that offer from Notre Dame, I expected to get other offers, but at the same time I was still humble, knowing I still had to go all out and compete.”
Woodard then went to Purdue, where he earned offer number two, before returning to Ohio State’s camp, one he’s been attending since the seventh grade, to pick up his third.
“That was definitely a dream come true,” he said of the offer from the Buckeyes.
Ohio State is one of Woodard’s favorites and will definitely be a player in his recruitment, despite recent troubles.
“I don’t think that’s changed my perception of Ohio State,” he said of the scandal that resulted in Jim Tressel’s departure. “I still like them and they’re still one of my favorite schools.”
Woodard isn’t done yet either.
“I’m going to Rutgers camp on Tuesday,” he said. “I’m going to Friday Night Lights at Florida. I might try to make a camp visit to Alabama.”
He’ll continue his tour in the fall.
“I’m definitely going to try to see some Ohio State and Notre Dame games and some games at some other schools,” he said.
He’s only entering his junior season, but he’s looking to streamline the recruiting process.
“I would like to get it over with,” he said. “I’m probably going to make my decision right after my junior season. I just feel like getting it out of the way just so I can stay focused on my schoolwork and other stuff, just so it’s not a distraction.”
Woodard has already identified a few major factors to his decision.
“The tradition will be important,” he said. “The feel for it and just seeing how I’ll fit in their program and their defense.”
