Don Woods (American football)

Donald Ray Woods (born February 17, 1951 in Denton, Texas) is a retired National Football League American football running back who played with the San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers from 1974–1980.

Don Woods
No. 33, 47
Position:Running back
Personal information
Born: (1951-02-17) February 17, 1951
Denton, Texas
Career information
College:New Mexico
NFL Draft:1974 / Round: 6 / Pick: 134
Career history
Career highlights and awards
  • 1974 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
Career NFL statistics
Rushing Yards:3,087
Average:4.0
TDs:16
Player stats at NFL.com

College career

Woods attended New Mexico Highlands University for college before transferring to the University of New Mexico his senior year when New Mexico Highlands dropped their football program.[1] He was a mobile quarterback for the Lobos, leading the team with both 869 yards on 52 of 124 passes, and 971 yards on 220 rushes for 11 touchdowns,[2] and winning the team's MVP award.[3] In a game against rival New Mexico St., he rushed for 188 yards, at the time the fourth most in school history, for which he won the UPI Back of the Week award on Sept. 15, 1973.[3] He also both rushed and passed for 100+ yards in the same game twice, against Utah (100 and 134) and Colorado St. (148 and 128).[3]

Professional career

Woods was selected in the 6th Round of the 1974 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay released Woods at the end of training camp and he was subsequently picked up by the Chargers early in the 1974 season. He was used almost exclusively as a running back, despite playing quarterback in college (albeit one who ran almost twice as often as passed). The move proved very fruitful for San Diego, as Woods, despite not suiting up until the 3rd week of the season, went on to set a then-NFL-rookie-rushing-record of 1,162 yards in only 12 games, including a then-rookie-record seven 100-yard rushing performances (weeks 3,4,5,7,10,12, and 14). Woods was selected the 1974 NFL Rookie of the Year. His seven rushing touchdowns and 96.8 rushing yards per game remain Chargers franchise rookie records, and his 1,162 rushing and 1,511 yards from scrimmage are second only to the numbers LaDanian Tomlinson put up in 2001.

A knee injury slowed Woods down during the 1975 campaign and while having several solid years with the Chargers, was never able to recapture the electricity of his rookie campaign. Woods was eventually phased out of the Chargers offense and traded to San Francisco during the 1980 season, finishing out his career that season with the 49ers. Woods finished his career with 3,087 career rushing yards and scored a total of 21 touchdowns. As of the 2017 off-season, Woods remains number 7 on the all-time Chargers rushing list.

NFL Career Statistics
Source[4]RushingReceivingPassingKick Returns
YearTmGRushYdsTDRecYdsTDFmbCmpAttYdsTDIntSkRtYdsTDAPYd
1974SDG12227116272634934132811036101572
1975SDG587317213101010000000000
1976SDG111264503342241112111000000
1977SDG14118405118218120100001270650
1978SDG16151514334295050000002370831
1979SDG150000000000000110010
1980SDG2410000001260010000
SFO1050229020171020000000000
Career8576330871614513585153845211713503063
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References
  1. Gary Herron (August 3, 2010). "Former Rookie of the Year has celebrity golf tournament". www.rrobserver.com. Rio Rancho Observer. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  2. "1973 New Mexico Lobos Stats". College Football at Sports-Reference.com.
  3. See New Mexico Sports Media Guide
  4. "Don Woods Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com.


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