Woods loves his new home in Fayetteville

Chad Morris, Mike Woods

— Because of his faith in new Razorback head football coach Chad Morris and assistant Justin Stepp, Magnolia, Texas, wide receiver Mike Woods flipped his commit from SMU to Arkansas last week without even seeing the campus.

Woods (6-2, 175, 4.43) made it to Fayetteville this past weekend on an official visit and was impressed with his new fan base.

“It’s been fun,” Woods said. “ I got to go to the Catfish Hole last night. They (fans) were chanting, cheering, all that kind of stuff, and booing all the other schools we had offers from. It was a good experience.”

Woods will sign with Arkansas at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday as the first-ever early high school signing period for college football opens and lasts through Friday.

Woods, who has 21 offers, leaped sight unseen to Arkansas because of the coaches and will enroll in January.

“They’re just genuine,” Woods said. “I talk to Coach Stepp every day, texting him. They actually care about their players instead of just wanting them on their football team. They care about them as a person.”

Woods had 51 catches for 1,018 yards and 15 touchdowns this season and also added two more scores on the ground.

He had just under 3,000 yards receiving and 44 touchdowns and just under 4,000 all-purpose yards in his high school career as Magnolia got him the ball in a variety of ways.

“Screen, fades, posts, running back, slot, outside -- anything, honestly,” Woods said. “Punt return, anything to get in space, like reverses, just anything to get me in space with the ball in my hands.”

Woods became a recruiter himself as he tried to work on getting Oklahoma commit Jaqualyn Crawford (5-10, 160) - who could play on either side of the ball - to flip to Arkansas.

“Jaquayln is cool,” Woods said. “We had fun last night. He’s a good dancer. I killed him in 2K, twice, so I hope he’s not too upset about that. It was fun.”