Hall of Fame
Position: Defensive Back
Years: 1983-1986
Place of Birth: Fort Wayne, IN
Date of Birth: Mar 10, 1965
Jersey Number: 26
Height: 6-0"
Weight: 195
High School: Fort Wayne Snider High School (IN)
A 1986 consensus First Team All-American, Rod Woodson ended his stellar Purdue career holding 13 individual records. He becomes the eighth Boilermaker player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
The runner-up for the 1986 Jim Thorpe Award, Woodson was a three-time First Team All-Big Ten selection who started all 45 games of his career. He left Purdue as the career leader in solo tackles, interceptions, interception return yardage, interceptions returned for touchdowns, kickoff returns and kickoff return yardage, and he still ranks in the top five in nearly every category. The senior team captain and MVP is also tied for the school record for career fumble recoveries, and he boasts the Boilermakers’ longest interception return, a 100-yard run back against Iowa in 1986. Named Purdue’s 1986-87 Male Athlete of the Year, Woodson led the Boilermakers to an appearance in the 1984 Peach Bowl. He finished his career with 445 tackles, 11 interceptions and 29 pass breakups while adding 71 kickoff returns for 1,535 yards and one touchdown.
Taken 10th overall in the 1987 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Woodson played 17 seasons in the league with the Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens and Oakland Raiders. The 1993 NFL Defensive Player of the Year was an 11-time Pro Bowl selection, and he appeared in three Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXV as a member of the Ravens.
A 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, he is a member of the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team and the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1990s. Woodson was inducted into the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Big Ten’s annual Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year Award carries his name. He now serves as the assistant defensive backs coach for the Oakland Raiders.
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