Triumph Over Tragedy: Woods Signs With Baylor

Jared Woods has known way too much pain in his young life.

But the La Grange High School senior has turned that tragedy into triumph.

Friday, Woods – all 6-foot-4, 265-pounds of him – was in front of a big crowd at the La Grange High School gym, where they all cheered him during his signing ceremony to officially accept a football scholarship to Baylor University.

But Woods had to travel a much tougher road than most college recruits.

“When I think of Jaren, that’s all I think about – resilience,” said La Grange football coach Matt Kates.

Woods’ was raised by a single mother, but she died suddenly right before he was about to start high school.

He and his sisters weren’t even sure where they were going to live before Steve and Kim Scott took them in. Steve was his mom’s cousin.

“He’s been with us the last four years and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Steve said. “We’re here for him and always will be.”

Jaren’s life stabilized, and during his junior year he became a star lineman for the Leps, and garnered football scholarship offers from Vanderbilt, Auburn, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, California, University of Houston, North Texas and even Yale.

However, amidst all those offers, he stuck with one of the first schools to recruit him, Baylor.

“That’s where I wanted to be,” Woods said.

But then in the first half of the first game of his senior season last fall he suffered a horrific broken leg in the game against Bellville.

“That took its toll, especially mentally,” Woods said. “I had to decide if I really wanted to play college football or not.”

“I was really concerned about him after the injury,” Kim Scott said. “It was hard on him, but he pulled himself together.”

During the rigorous rehabilitation process, Woods said he decided he did want to keep his dream of playing college football alive.

“I’ve made peace with it,” Woods said.

He was back to roaming the sidelines, cheering him teammates, days after his injury. By the end of the season he wasn’t even on crutches anymore.

Even though he had to miss basketball season where he was a force for the Leps last year, now he’s back to being able to run, and has been cleared medically to compete in the discus this spring to try to make it back to the state meet like he did last year.

He will red-shirt his first football season at Baylor, where they plan to play him starting in the 2024 season as a defensive end.

“It’s going to be challenging, but a great opportunity,” Woods said.

“You see the athlete, the athleticism and the size,” Kates said. “But then when you hear his story, everyone falls in love with him even more. The Good Lord has healed him and I can’t wait to see what he will do in the green and gold (at Baylor).”