Editor’s note: The Star is counting down the top high school football players in Tucson. Up next: Canyon del Oro lineman Sa’Kylee Woodard.
Name: Sa’Kylee Woodard
Rundown: Woodard is a 6-foot-3-inch, 285-pound junior offensive lineman and defensive tackle CDO.
Who he is: Woodard made the varsity team as a freshman in 2020 and played four games during the condensed — and eventually canceled — season.
“Having to go through that, it taught me discipline and (how to handle) adversity,” Woodard said. “But the four games I was able to play in, I was very grateful because I got what most didn’t. I took advantage of it and I’m just very grateful.”
Since then?
“I’ve grown so much since my freshman year in so many ways, given I was only able to play four games my first year,” he said. “But then I was able to get a full season last year. I’m in the best form right now.”
Woodard was a force as a sophomore, helping CDO post a 7-5 record that included a playoff win over Lake Havasu. Woodard team with 18 “pancake blocks” during his sophomore campaign, according to Maxpreps.com.
“It was my first real season, so I got to really feel like a varsity football player,” Woodard said. “But this year, it’s all gas and no brakes. Being around my guys, I can tell that we’re ready this year. I’m ready.”
CDO opens its season on Sept. 2 at home against Walden Grove.
Proof he’s good: When Woodard was a freshman at CDO, he was certain his future was on the defensive line.
“Going into high school, I thought I was the meanest and dirtiest defensive tackle — and I was only going to play defense,” he said.
But things changed.
“If I were to choose one position, it would be on offense, because I like seeing the holes for my running backs to run through — and put people on their back,” he said.
CDO coach Dustin Peace isn’t sure what side of the ball Woodard will play on when he plays collegiately.
“That’s a trick question. I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve been toying with that back-and-forth. I think he’s gravitating towards the offensive side, but that’s based on what the team needs, because we need him to play offense. … He’s more impactful for us putting points on the board, when he can control the line of scrimmage and get our playmakers an opportunity to do that.
“When he gets to the next level, he has an opportunity to be an either-or guy, but it’s all up to him. One school may want him for this, while the other wants him for that.”
The UA is recruiting Woodard as an offensive lineman. The Wildcats offered Woodard a scholarship following his freshman season.
“I’m very appreciative of the scholarship they offered me my freshman year, because they took a chance on me first, and that shows me they care and see the potential, so I commend them for that,” Woodard said of the Wildcats. “Then Arizona as a whole, growing up and watching them being good, then being bad, then good again — there’s never been consistency. I really believe that the U of A with Coach Jedd Fisch is going to be consistent and he’s going to build something that the U of A hasn’t had in years.”
He said it: “He’s gotta show his dominance, because any other high school football kid going up against a kid like that, he should be dominating consistently. He dominated last year, but didn’t do it consistently — and a lot of it had to do with his level of conditioning and maturity. But now he’s gotta show that next step and dominate. We take off when he takes off and shows that kind of attitude. … Now he’s gotta be more of a bully.” — Peace
