Virginia DE Landon Woodson: UCF visit was 'amazing'

Landon Woodson had been hearing all about UCF these last few weeks from his recruiter, Shane Burnham. This past weekend, the Virginia defensive end got to see everything for himself.

"It was great," Woodson said about his official visit. "The campus was amazing. The staff was amazing. The players were amazing. Everything was just great."

The visit got officially started on Friday morning after Woodson flew in the night before.

"Friday was the big campus tour day," Woodson said. "They took us to the student union, the area where players get tutoring. We saw the rec center and the arena. One of the girls with us, she's in the major I'm looking for, communications, so we saw all of that area. It was great."

On Friday night, the coaching staff took the recruits to Kres Chophouse in downtown Orlando.

"It was so, so good," Woodson said. "I had steak, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was great."

Saturday was the big football day.

"We took a tour of the facilities," Woodson said. "We toured the football stadium, locker rooms and indoor facility. We tried on some jerseys. We had a meeting with the coaches. I met with Coach (Randy) Shannon and Coach Burnham. Coach Shannon talked about what type of defense they play. It will be a 4-3. They like me as a defensive end. He showed me some basic skills, like some hand movements and some blocking schemes. He showed some film from when he coached at Florida. It was good.

"Coach Burnham, we talked about some of the players he's coached that have done real well. He talked about how he grew up as the son of a coach. His dad was a coach at Florida State and he talked about how he always wanted to be a football coach. I've got a real good relationship with Coach Burnham."

Saturday's dinner was served in the club of Spectrum Stadium.

His player host for the weekend was redshirt freshman defensive lineman Mason Cholewa.

"He was real cool," Woodson said. "He introduced me to a lot of the guys."

Before he departed on Sunday, Woodson met with head coach Josh Heupel.

"It went really good," Woodson said. "He's a great guy. He said there's a reason they recruited me. They don't just recruit anybody. I'm a guy that can really help their team out. If I went there, I'd be a different man when I leave. Everything is a brotherhood there. It's one big family. They would treat me like a son."

What did he like most about UCF?

"I know school is the main part of being a student-athlete," Woodson said. "Football is not the entire deal. It's going to have to be a school I'd want to go to and that's what I really liked about UCF. I really liked the academic support. I loved the players and coaches. It's a great camaraderie, like a loving brotherhood. I really like that. The coaches are really involved with the players."

What surprised him the most?

"UCF's graduation rate is 94 percent," Woodson said. "I didn't know about that. That's amazing."

Up next is an official visit to UConn this weekend. He said several other schools remain in contact about a potential visit - Maryland, Syracuse, Mississippi State and Towson.

"I'm keeping an open mind," Woodson said. "The most important thing to me is I have to see myself being at the school for the next four to five years. Everything outside of football, just being a student."

Woodson played wide receiver and defensive end at Fredericksburg's Stafford High School. He had an injury-plagued start to his football career, tearing a meniscus as a freshman then an ACL as a sophomore only to re-injure the ACL as a junior. His senior year was his first full injury-free season and he didn't disappoint, making a name for himself defensively towards the end of the season.

Joining Woodson in Orlando last weekend was defensive tackle Tyrese Black, who has since committed.

***Photo courtesy of recruitNoVa - Check out their earlier feature story about Woodson.