Whatever happened to Danny Woodhead, the North Platte whiz who was Nebraska's High School Athlete of the Year for 2003-04 after leading Class A in rushing and the entire state in basketball scoring?
Well, he certainly didn't fade away. He has just completed a spectacular football season at Chadron State College, where both of his parents and an uncle graduated and his brother, Ben, is a junior wide receiver on the football team.
Danny finished the Eagles' 10-game season with 1,840 yards rushing, 2,087 all-purpose yards, 27 touchdowns and 162 points. All the numbers are Chadron State single-season records and also lead NCAA Division II for the 2004 season.
His 184-yard per game rushing average is a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference best, dating back to 1972. It also ranks as the 10th best in NCAA Division II history.
This past Saturday, he ran the ball 30 times for 188 yards and three touchdowns and carried two screen passes 27 and 55 yards for two more TDs as the Eagles concluded their schedule with a 52-17 victory at New Mexico Highlands University. It was the third time this season that he scored five touchdowns in a game.
Woodhead did not play during the last 20 minutes of the game after staking the Eagles to a 38-10 lead. Earlier in the season he had five straight games in which he rushed for at least 218 yards, topped by a 308-yard performance. That tied an NCAA II record for most 200-yard games by a freshman that was set in 1986 by Johnny Bailey of Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Bailey went on to win three consecutive Harlon Hill Awards, which are presented annually to the outstanding player in NCAA II. Last week, Woodhead was selected as one of seven finalists from the Southwest Region for the 2004 award.
Two weeks ago, he was accorded College Sports Television's Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. While he hasn't received any report cards from Chadron State, where he plans to major in math education, his 3.9 high school GPA satisfied the New York producer who made the decision. Just one of the awards is given out each week after athletes from all the fall sports are considered.
Naturally, questions pop up, such as "Why didn't the big schools recruit him?"
They definitely knew about him. It's hard to hide after rushing for 2,037 yards and scoring 31 touchdowns like he did last year for the North Platte Bulldogs. For his career, he ran for 4,891 yards and 76 touchdowns, both Class A records, and had 6,527 all-purpose yards to go with about every award imaginable, including the Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year honor.
Many Division I schools looked him over, but decided that at 5-8, 185 pounds he was too small to play running back for them. Several said he could return punts and kickoffs and perhaps be a receiver.
Woodhead seems happy with his choice of colleges. Shortly after scoring one of his first touchdowns for the Eagles this fall, he ran back to the bench and told Head Coach Brad Smith and Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Boyle, "Thanks for letting me play at Chadron State"
He constantly wears a smile and is continually thanking the CSC offensive linemen for their help.
"I wouldn't be getting any yards without their good work," Woodhead said. "I have the easy part. They push the opposing players out of the way and I just try to hit the holes that they open."
Coach Smith noted that the Eagles have an outstanding offensive line, but points out that Woodhead also does his part. "He's hits the hole so quick, has a low center of gravity that makes him hard to tackle, has outstanding vision, can cut while going full speed and has excellent speed."
One amazing stat is that while carrying the ball 284 times this fall for another Chadron State record, Woodhead fumbled just four times and was able to recover two of those bobbles himself.
Another question frequently asked about the shaggy-haired freshman is "Does he plan to play basketball?" It's a legitimate question because he averaged 25.1 points a game last winter. But the answer is no. Like the other CSC football players, he will lift weights this winter and then participate in spring drills. It will be the first time in his life that Woodhead has lifted weights for an extended period of time because he's always played basketball in the winter and gone out for either track or soccer in the spring.
CSC coaches say the lifting can only make him stronger and faster.