Washington State linebacker Jahad Woods earns second watch list nod

For the second time in a week, Washington State rising senior Jahad Woods found himself on a preseason watch list.

The Cougars’ tackling machine was one of eight players from the Pac-12 Conference named to the watch list for the Butkus Award, which recognizes the top linebacker in college football.

Other Pac-12 players named to the list include Cal’s Kuony Deng, Colorado’s Nate Landman, Utah’s Devin Lloyd, Oregon State’s Hamilcar Rashed, Arizona State’s Merlin Robertson, Oregon’s Isaac Slade-Matautia and Washington’s Joe Tryon.

Woods was recently named to the watch list for the Bednarik Award, which honors the nation’s best defensive player.

If the college football season happens this fall, the San Diego native will be the Pac-12’s top returning tackler after registering 141 takedowns last season, second only to Cal linebacker and Spokane native Evan Weaver, who was recently drafted by the Arizona Cardinals. 

Woods, a two-time All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection, has 287 career tackles and would need just 30 to boost himself into the school’s all-time top-10. If Woods managed at least 65 tackles in the shortened season, he’d slip into WSU’s all-time top-five, pushing former position mate Peyton Pelluer out of that group. 

Last season, Woods’ 141 tackles were the fifth-most by a WSU player in a single season and signified the first time a Cougar had more than 100 since Pelluer in 2015.