Jelani Woods (born October 9, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

before transferring to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

for 2021, where he was named first-team All-

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

. Woods was drafted by the Colts in the third round of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

Early years

Woods grew up in

Ellenwood, Georgia Ellenwood is an unincorporated community in Clayton, Henry, Rockdale and DeKalb counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. The community is a southeast suburb of Atlanta and is located along Interstate 675 and Georgia State Route 42. With a populati ...

, and attended Cedar Grove High School. He played quarterback and passed for 1,992 yards with 20 touchdown passes against six interceptions in his junior season. Woods was also named honorable mention All-State in basketball by ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

''. As a senior, he was named honorable mention All-State and first-team All-Region 5 3A after passing for 2,316 yards and 26 touchdowns. Woods was rated a three-star recruit and committed to play college football at

over offers from

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

College career

Woods began his college career at Oklahoma State. He joined the team as an early enrollee and

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman year and was moved from quarterback to tight end during the Cowboys practices leading up to the

2017 Camping World Bowl The 2017 Camping World Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 28, 2017, at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The 28th edition of the Camping World Bowl featured the Virginia Tech Hokies of the ...

. Woods finished his redshirt freshman season with seven receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns. As a redshirt sophomore, he caught 16 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown and was an honorable mention All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

selection. Woods had eight receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown and was again named honorable mention All-Big 12 as a redshirt junior. Following the end of the season, Woods announced he would be transferring to

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

as a graduate student. He was named first-team All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

after catching 44 passes for 598 yards and eight touchdowns.

Professional career

Woods was drafted by the

in the third round with the 73rd overall pick in the

. In Week 3, against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

, Woods scored his first two professional touchdowns on his first two career receptions in a 20–17 victory. He finished the season with 25 catches for 312 yards and three touchdowns. On August 30, 2023, Woods was placed on injured reserve.

References

Additional reading

* Andrew Moore
"Jelani Woods: Indianapolis Colts Rookie Files,"
''Horseshoe Huddle,'' August 31, 2022.

External links

Indianapolis Colts bioVirginia Cavaliers bioOklahoma State Cowboys bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Jelani 1998 births Living people American football tight ends Virginia Cavaliers football players Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area Indianapolis Colts players