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PROVO — BYU has set its sights on its next offensive assistant.
The Cougars are expected to hire Georgia Southern offensive line coach TJ Woods to the same role, as first reported Monday morning by ESPN's Pete Thamel.
A source confirmed Thamel's report to KSL.com, adding that the deal between the 20-year veteran of college football who also served as the Eagles' run-game coordinator won't become official until at least after Georgia Southern's bowl game.
The Eagles (6-6) are scheduled to play Ohio in the Myrtle Beach Bowl Saturday at 11 a.m. MST.
The move will mark a return west for Woods, who most recently served as offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator at UNLV from 2021-22, when he helped the Rebels average six more points per game than the year prior with 18 rushing touchdowns and a 1,000-yard rusher in back-to-back seasons — the most recent being BYU running back Aidan Robbins, who ran for 1,011 yards in Woods' system.
Robbins, who is in the MBA program at BYU's Marriott School of Business, has a year of eligibility remaining but has not formally decided if he will return to the Cougars or enter the NFL draft.
Prior to his time at UNLV, Woods was the offensive line coach at Utah State in 2019, mentoring four all-Mountain West honorees and leading the Aggies' offense to set school records in passes completed and attempted, and second in program history with 3,628 passing yards per game.
Sources: BYU is expected to hire Georgia Southern offensive line coach TJ Woods at the same spot. He's a veteran line coach who has worked at Utah State, Oregon State and Wisconsin. This move won't be formalized until after he coaches in Saturday's Myrtle Beach Bowl.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 11, 2023
The 43-year-old Woods hails from San Dimas, California, and played football at Citrus Junior College and Iowa State before finishing his career at NAIA Azusa Pacific. He followed around former Utah State head coach Gary Andersen for much of his career, including stops at Wisconsin from 2013-14 and Oregon State from 2015-17, with titles involving the offensive line, tight ends, co-offensive coordinator and run-game coordinator.
In his first stint at Utah State from 2009-12, the Aggies rewrote the offensive record book with then-school records for total offense in consecutive seasons, including 6,108 total yards in 2012. He coached five All-Western Athletic Conference players, including Larsen and Philip Gapelu in 2011, and led the Jordan High alum to second-team All-America honors in 2013 prior to an eight-year NFL career.
He also spent the 2018 campaign as Western Kentucky's offensive line coach, improving the Hilltopers' rushing yards per game by 75.98, the eighth-best improvement mark nationally.
Woods' list of NFL-bound offensive line pupils includes a dozen players over the past decade, including former Jordan High standout and Utah State alum Tyler Larsen, the starting center for the Washington Commanders. He's been to six bowl games in his career, including three with Utah State, and three NAIA championship series as a graduate assistant and tight ends coach at his alma mater.
Woods would be one of two new offensive assistants at BYU for its second season in the Big 12, after Sitake informed offensive line coach Darrell Funk and longtime tight ends coach Steve Clark that they would not return for the 2024 season.
The Cougars initially attempted to bring back former offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, according to several reports, after the two-time offensive assistant was dismissed at Baylor. But the Texas native and longtime SEC and Big 12 coach ended up taking a job as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Kansas, instead.
