August 18, 2011

Pete Sampson
IrishIllustrated.com Editor

Lo Wood proved he can handle at least one kind of pressure during training camp.

When roommates Austin Collinsworth, Daniel Smith and Bennett Jackson decided to go mohawk the night before the first practice, Wood jammed that idea at the line of scrimmage. His classmates took out the clippers. Wood broke up that peer pressure to maintain his status quo style.

"Nah, none of that," Wood laughed. "I just keep the hair cut."

Comfortable with more than his coiffure, the sophomore corner plans to use the next two weeks to prove he's worth playing time beyond mop-up duty and special teams, where his 155 snaps in the kicking game were the seventh most of any player last season. Fifteen pounds heavier up to a self-reported 185, Wood is off to a strong start.

When Notre Dame staged a reserve scrimmage last weekend, Wood admitted he didn't see much action. A year after scrapping for every rep, the coaches holding Wood out might actually be a compliment. Likely Notre Dame's third cornerback behind Robert Blanton and Gary Gray when the season opens against South Florida, the former three-star recruit appears settled into his role.

"He's making a huge improvement, making plays all over the field," Gray said. "You don't hear coach (Chuck) Martin or coach (Kerry) Cooks say, 'You've got to do this, you've got to do that.' He knows what he has to do. He's just making a lot of plays out there."

The former early enrollee has needed the past 18 months to both bulk up and get comfortable inside the college game. His freshman year felt like an exercise in hanging on for dear life, the coaches telling him most Fridays he'd better be ready to play.

"I just knew I had to be out there," Wood said. "I had to find some confidence and a way to be ready to play ball."

Now Wood knows he's capable, right down to his hands. He spent the summer working on picking off passes instead of just breaking them up. Like nearly everything at cornerback, that's a test of confidence. These days Wood passes at a higher rate.

"There's really no such thing as having bad hands. It's just a mindset thing to believe you can catch the ball," Wood said. "It's just like when the ball's in the air I'd probably freeze up or something. My mind wasn't really focused on catching the ball."

While Notre Dame returns two starting quality cornerbacks in Gray and Blanton, it lost the flexibility of Darrin Walls, who allowed Blanton to swing between field (wide side) and boundary (near side) relative to the hash marks. Cooks said Blanton could still be the swing cornerback, but that would require somebody like Wood to make a move.

The Irish have been working Wood at nickel back during camp too, a job that might go to a safety as it did early last season before a strategic mid-year switch. At a minimum, Wood is making the Irish staff think about promoting him into the role.

"He's had an unbelievable off-season," Cooks said. "Where he was as a freshman to where he was his first spring to where he was last spring to where he is now, he's definitely focused and making that jump. I don't want to put any pressure to say he's got to be this guy for us, but he's come along and he's probably ahead of where he anticipated."