Phoenix (Ariz.) Horizon junior PG Collin Woods has begun to come into his own this past summer after starting for the Huskies his sophomore season. Woods played his first year at Brophy as a frosh, then appealed to the AIA for a hardship and was granted approval to play at Horizon right away. Had Woods not received his hardship, he was fully prepared to sit out his sophomore season, but that AIA decision was the beginning of good things to happen for this top rising guard.

Woods has flourished this off-season in club ball playing for the Premier 16U AAU program. He has been the leader and main go-to player on his club team and has had the opportunity to work on different aspects of his game. Woods has always been a good shooter with incredible leaping ability. This spring/summer he has started to learn how to use his quick feet and great hops to get better at attacking the basket.

According to his high school coach Paul Long, this is still an area he will need to continue to work on as his body control allows him to twist and turn to avoid contact and still get off shots. Long says he will need to learn how to force contact from the defense and draw the foul or find the drop off pass.

There's no doubt with his work with Premier and his off-season training that Woods will fast become another top prospect from a loaded 2011 class from Arizona.

Woods was invited to attend several camps this summer, including camps at Portland, Colorado, St. Mary's, San Diego, and Oregon State. Portland has informed his school coach that they were extremely impressed with Woods both on and off the court. The Colorado trip had a family tie to it since both his parents attended Colorado and his grandparents live there as well.

He is currently attending the St. Mary's Elite camp, which ends today, and was one of 10 players chosen to attend. Woods could not attend the San Diego camp since it conflicted with the St. Mary's camp, but San Diego took notice of Woods when Horizon attended their team camp and was impressive during their time there. Oregon State dropped off when they received a commitment from another local top 2011 PG Jahii Carson.

According to Woods he has not received any offers, but several top schools are making it known they are very interested. "I'm being recruited by some high level DI colleges," said Woods.

Schools on the interest list include UCSB, Colorado, California, Memphis, Pepperdine, St. Mary's, Utah State, Weber State, Portland State, Portland, LSU, San Diego, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame.

Woods is getting his name out there, even though he isn't playing on a 17U team, which will come next summer at Premier. His work ethic is off the charts and he has made noticeable improvement every year. It will be interesting to see how good he will be by this time next summer.

Woods is not only experiencing a solid summer, but the upcoming school season in the 5AII conference should be solid for the Horizon Huskies. Woods has a formidable front court with rising senior Kyle Tresnak, and upcoming sophomore Eric Lewis. Tresnak is also coming off a huge summer and has received several DI offers.

"Collin will be a team leader and our floor general. He is a solid point guard who has worked very hard on his court awareness from the point position and getting his teammates involved. He will also score, heck he was our leading scorer last year (14ppg) and led the team in assists as well," said coach Long.

As a sophomore last year Woods was selected the Team MVP and made 1st team All-Region. He was also the leading scorer in the Underclassmen All-Star game that the Arizona coaches association (AZBCA) put on.

Woods, 6-foot-1, 160-pounds, has an incredible shot, and his jumping is superior for a PG (put down a 360 in a game this summer). But most importantly, his person is incredible. He's humble, coachable, and respectful according to everyone who comes in contact with him.

Woods has a reported 3.3 GPA. With solid grades in the classroom and his abilities on the hardwood look for the rising PG to go places for the next level.

 

September 5, 2009



rivals.com  Sept. 5 and Sept. 29  (first and second offers)



arizonavarsity.com   Nov. 10, 2009



September 20, 2009   arizonavarsity.com


October 2009    azhoopsreport.com


arizonapreps.com   December 16, 2009


arizonapreps.com  February 10, 2010


Scottsdale Republic  February 11, 2010


rivals.com       March 29, 2010    

Scottsdale (Ariz.) Horizon junior point guard Collin Woods received his third offer this weekend. His first two came from Weber State and Colordao State.

The offer came from from the University of San Diego. The coaches involved in Woods recruitment at USD are assistant coach Bill Carr and head coach Bill Grier.

Reports are that Woods is playing great up in Colorado this weekend at the Double Pump Spring Tournament.

Last week Horizon was busy with several schools watching Woods at open practice. This week Horizon has five schools coming in to see him; Oregon State, Weber State, Utah State, Pepperdine, and ASU. According to Horizon head coach Paul long SMU and Washington State have also talked about coming out this week.

Woods is a dynamic scoring point guard that can break down a defense in a number of ways. He is athletic and can hurt teams from long range or at the rim.

Expect Woods recruiting to soar this summer as more programs around the nation get a look at him during the summer club events.