Michigan State football beats out Alabama for Edward Woods

Michigan State football picked up a massive commitment from Arizona State cornerback transfer Edward Woods.

Michigan State football got some outstanding news on Tuesday morning as Arizona cornerback transfer Ed Woods announced his commitment to the Spartans. Woods is a senior transfer who was also considering Alabama. He was rated as an 88 overall prospect in the 247Sports transfer rankings. He made his decision on Tuesday and chose the Spartans over Alabama.

This is a big win for Jonathan Smith and Demetrice Martin.

BREAKING: #MichiganState lands former ASU transfer CB Ed Woods over #Alabama.

Despite a hard push from Bama to commit while in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, MSU got Woods to visit & closed the deal.

He was the #4 available CB in the portal.

Quotes: https://t.co/TRgst6UDBK (FREE) pic.twitter.com/eV8wkbLYSZ

— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) April 30, 2024

Martin played a huge role in landing Woods who initially had been recruited by Michigan State’s new cornerbacks coach out of high school when he was coaching at Arizona. He ended up choosing Arizona State but had already laid some groundwork with Woods.

Woods stands 6-foot-0 and weighs 180 pounds, originally hailing from Oakland, Calif. He was graded out at a 76.8 overall player by the folks over at Pro Football Focus last year. He also totaled 33 tackles, two forced fumbles, a pick, and four pass breakups last season for the Sun Devils.

The ASU transfer is a physical corner with good ball skills. Woods is able to track the ball well in the air and also excels at making plays without grabbing the receiver. He has decent speed. Some scouts project him to have mid-round pick potential in the NFL draft. Working with Martin and perfecting some techniques could go a long way toward that dream. He has to work on overall consistency the most, however.

Losing Woods was unexpected for Arizona State. Head coach Kenny Dillingham called Woods “a good player” and stated that his transfer was “a curveball” for them. Teammates and coaches alike seemed to be surprised about his departure and mentioned that it was not an easy one to deal with.

Our own Brendon Pricco wrote about him entering the portal for Sun Devil Daily.

As I previously stated, this was a big recruiting win for the Michigan State football program.

Woods was at Michigan State all day on Monday after spending Sunday with the Crimson Tide. Alabama was pushing hard for a commitment from him on Sunday while he was in Tuscaloosa, but they did not get it. Smith and Martin made a big push to get him to come up to East Lansing on Monday and it paid off big time.

While it remains to be seen how Alabama operates without Nick Saban at the helm, Kalen DeBoer is no slouch. He is a great coach and recruiter and Alabama is still one of the top programs in the country. Beating them in any recruiting battle is a big statement for Smith. Look for the coaching staff to continue its roster turnover in the post-Mel Tucker era.

Several other portal transfer candidates may be visiting East Lansing soon.