The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/362774
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? he wants you to wear a coat and tie going to the football games, be clean shaven and put together," Woodley said. "In college you don't understand the motive, but once you leave, and you represent yourself to employers, and as a football player, trying to sell yourself to marketing and advertisers, launch programs in the community and everything that comes with being an adult, you realize that Coach Carr was preparing you for the real world. "I love Coach Carr. He cared about us and he taught us how to be professionals, but you had to accept his lessons. Some guys did right away. Some guys took longer. Some guys never did and they left." Slowly, Woodley matured, developing into a leader that would serve as captain for the 2006 season. A strong locker-room presence, he also proved to be one of Michigan's best players, tying a program single-season record with 12 sacks. He spearheaded a dominant defense that allowed a team- record low of only 43.4 yards rushing per game. For his efforts, Woodley earned first- team All-America honors and was named the Ted Hendricks Award winner as the nation's top defensive end. With the accolades, the often self-deprecating but at the same time boastful former Wolverine thinks he has the right to call himself one of the best defenders to come through Ann Arbor. "Me and [former U-M linebacker] Larry Foote get into the argument all the time, and I tell him 'Charles Woodson is No. 1 and I'm No. 2,'" Woodley declared, with his trademark grin. "Brandon Graham was also very good, but he doesn't have any awards to put on his shelf. "Larry Foote always tells me Brandon Graham was better than me, and he did have better numbers, but I would never admit that." The 2006 regular season concluded with a 42-39 loss to Ohio State in a matchup of No. 1 (11-0 OSU) versus No. 2 (11-0 Michigan) hailed as, arguably, the greatest matchup between the rivals since the 1969 contest. After the loss, there was considerable momentum for a rematch, but Florida's Urban Meyer, on the heels of UF's SEC championship victory over Arkansas, lobbied hard for the Gators to play Ohio State, and won out. "Urban Meyer showed his true colors, selling you on whatever you wanted to hear," Woodley said. "I respect that Coach Carr wouldn't do that. He just let it play out and whatever happened, happened. "We didn't go, and Florida went and beat Ohio State, and we lost to USC in the Rose Bowl, but we didn't have the same focus we would have had if we played for the national championship." A second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2007, Woodley became a starter in 2008, recording 11.5 sacks. He had six sacks in three playoff games, tallying two QB takedowns, a pass broken up and a forced fumble in the Steelers' 27-23 Super Bowl win over Arizona. In 2009, Woodley was named to the All- Pro team for the first time in his career after setting career highs in sacks (13.5), tackles (50) and passes broken up (five). A year later, he registered double-digit sacks again (10), and added three more sacks in three playoff games, but he was denied another ring when Pittsburgh fell to Green Bay in the Super Bowl. Over the last three seasons, battling