&OU0
Oi/cics/
irfTl ^ 'z~
■F >k
<4m)
2fc
Jp,
EUGENE SPRINGFIELD
824 Charnelton 5851 Main St.
686-5808 746-7666
free slice of pizza
with the purchase
of a Regular Slice w4n“r
16" XTra-Large
2-item Pizza
PLUS 2 free soft drinks & 1 order of tricky stlx
>oo
Not valid with any other otlerj
EXPIRES 12/19/03
f'iPIzza Pipeline
GET READY FOR THE
PLACES TO SHOP
• THINGS TO DO
• FOOD, TRAVEL,
ENTERTAINMENT,
ACTIVITIES
• GIFT GUIDES
TWO ISSUES TO ENJOY!
^ 1st Issue -
November 21st
^ 2nd Issue -
December 8th
Oregon Daily Emerald
You're always close to campus.
--- -» www.dailyemerald.com
WOODS
continued from page 5B
favor from Bellotti and defensive co
ordinator Nick Aliotti. "It's not often
at all that you get a Division I coach
like that to stick up for you, write a let
ter in your favor. I thank and contin
ue to thank coach Bellotti for the op
portunity he gave me.
"He stuck his neck out for me a
lot."
It has been three months since
Woods first stepped onto campus as a
student-athlete. I le's played in nine
games for the Ducks, gradually seeing
more playing time each week.
He started his first game on Oct. 3
against Utah, and has been a key
piece of the secondary puzzle.
"Any time it's a junior college
player, you hope you can get him
close enough to play at the level of a
junior as soon as possible, and it's
very hard to predict that," secondary
coach John Neal said. "I think we've
got more out of Rodney than the
normal junior college player because
he played so much more earlier on
than we expected.
"It's just unfortunate, because we
would have loved to have him since
he was a freshman. All of us feel that
way."
Woods' story is a complicated one.
Had he not been charged with a
felony, he would have been on his
way to Fresno State in August 2000,
where head coach Pat Hill had a
scholarship waiting for him.
But, like at Oregon, Woods would
n't be able to play for the Bulldogs
with a felony on his record.
Hill "was behind me just like coach
Bellotti," Woods said. "From the get
go, (Hill) told me, 'OK, you get all this
stuff cleared up, you still have your
scholarship here.' I was fine with it un
til I went to my sentencing. I was up
set, but I really wasn't too upset be
cause there was nothing I could do
about it. It was something that he had
to do."
So, Woods went to Fresno City,
where he played for two seasons un
der head coach Tony Caviglia. Accord
ing to a story in The Fresno Bee in De
cember 2001, Caviglia didn't know of
Woods' situation until the teenager
called in April 2001 and expressed in
terest in playing for the program.
However, that didn't matter. The
junior college had no student code of
conduct, so Woods was free to attend
classes and play football.
"Kids make mistakes," Caviglia said
in a phone interview earlier this week.
"I le's an example of someone who
deserves a second chance."
Then and now
Woods said he tries to forget that
fateful night, but knows he will never
be able to flush it out of his mind. He
tries to push it to the back of his head
so he can concentrate on things like
classes and football, and getting used
to the way of life in Eugene, where he
will spend at least one more year.
Caviglia described him as a player
who plays as hard as he can on the
field and is responsible off of it.
Oregon comerback Justin Phinisee
said Woods has been just another
teammate and that the incident that
clouded Woods' life has not been
dwelled upon.
"You would think a wild kid com
ing out to the city like this, everybody
would see the trouble he gets in,"
Phinisee said, describing what the
preconception of Woods was like.
"But he's low-key. He hangs out and
comes to our house on the weekends.
He likes to have fun. He knows his
limit. He's learned from his past, and 1
think he's a good guy."
Woods is majoring in sociology.
Like seemingly every collegiate foot
ball player, he wants to play in the
NFL, but knows only a lucky few get
that chance.
If he doesn't graduate to the NFL,
Woods said he would like to become
a social worker and be someone who
can offer counseling to teenagers and
help lead
them away
from the dan
gers of life.
"It's a good
life lesson be
cause 1
learned a lot
from the stuff
I've been
through and
the people f’tflFi’Q
I've talked to,"
he said. "I would love to teach that
to other people."
Although he's always been reli
gious, Woods said the events of that
May night have made him focus more
on the Bible and his belief in God.
"My main lesson I've learned is to
trust in God with all your heart and
he'll do everything for you," Woods
said. "He's up there, and he knows
what's going on at all times. If you
give everything to him, he'll make
sure to straighten your path out."
Neal, for one, is happy to have him
as a member of the secondary. Neal
has liked what he has seen from the
junior and is looking forward to hav
ing him for at least one more season.
He echoes Caviglia's belief that
Woods is deserving of that second
chance.
"His situation is still ambiguous, at
best, in terms of what happened,"
Neal said. "I think they have to sepa
rate tire fact of who did what and un
derstand that he did not do the main
crime that happened.
"So anyhow, what do I know about
right and wrong, any more than any
one else? We all feel like human be
ings. We all want to give someone a
second chance. Sometimes maybe we
give people third and fourth chances.
I think Rodney has learned a great les
son, and I think he'll be a college
graduate and we'll all be proud of
him."
Contact the sports editor
at hankhager@daiiyemerald.com.
^■OFF
MEDIUM
FREE DELIVERY
Present coupon. Not valid with other offers. Good through 12-31-03. 1 Oflfl £ D ft HI |# | | ng n H mmm%
V mm mm warn mm mm mm mm mm f ■ oil Si rKrtllEItLIN KSLVKJ
284-8484 or 484-2799
OREGON'S MOSTTRUSTED PIERCING NAME SINCE 1996
ML ——-—
Navel Jewelry Sale!
10? OFFfiLL NAVEL JEWELRY/
>10 OFF SELECTIP COLORS ANP STYLES/
All of our navel jewelry is implant grade,
safe and appropriate for initial piercings,
internally threaded, and damn good looking.
CORVALLIS
EUGENE
675 LINCOLN ST.
5'-41-3H2-6565
* See store for details.
1*4E5 MONROE
SUITE C
5*41-738-7711
Offer good through 12/01/03