Monday, January 14, 2013
Game, set, match for Woody Quinn
By Erik McKinney
One year ago, Woody Quinn (Santa Ana, Calif./Santa Ana College) was wondering if he would be able to begin a football career. On Monday, he took another big step toward realizing that goal as he made a verbal commitment to a program among college football royalty.
A standout volleyball player through high school, Quinn spent two years playing the sport at Pepperdine before making the move to Santa Ana.
"I met him about a year ago today," Santa Ana head coach Geoff Jones said of Quinn. "I told him the first thing he needed to do was put on weight. We kept in touch for a couple of months and I said, if you're serious about this, we need to start moving."
Quinn put on 25 pounds and checked into the Santa Ana offense as a 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end, with the kind of athletic ability that made college coaches take notice immediately.
"He runs well, he can high-point the ball, he's a 4.0 student and a great kid," Jones said. "I've had a lot of basketball players in the past and you have to toughen them up. He's always had that mentality. He was a football player playing volleyball, not vice versa."
Several schools, including Fresno State, San Diego State and Tennessee, offered scholarships, and Quinn's recruitment came to a close as he committed to Tennessee after his recent visit to the Volunteers.
"He texted me a couple of times from there and said he loved it," Jones said. "He was really impressed with everything. He really likes the coaches and he likes the offense they run."
Because Quinn transferred from a four-year school to a junior college, he needed to stay a full year and was unable to enroll early. Jones speculated that, combined with the fact that Quinn has only two years to play two seasons, limited the amount of scholarship offers he received.
"I think if he was out early, he would have 30 offers by now," Jones said. "He's never had an offseason where he's lifting for football. I think he has the potential to be an NFL tight end. It's a pretty amazing story to go from volleyball to the SEC in one year."
Quinn is commitment No. 19 for Tennessee's 2013 recruiting class, and the second from the junior college ranks.
