Woods Has Shown His Speed
by Bo Marchionte
@bomarchionte | College2Pro.com
Published July 25, 2025, 4:39 PM
LATROBE, Pa. – Since earlier this year, watching 33-year Robert Woods on the Southside of Pittsburgh during the portions of mini-camp and OTAs. There was one thing that stood out about him.
His speed and quickness.
That was the first surprise. The second surprise was talking to him the second day of training camp at Saint Vincent College and him revealing that speed is something that was never mentioned about his game since he trained with football coaches rather than his track guy.
“I’m a runner, a track guy,” Woods said casually on the second day of Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. “Won state in track. Had the fastest time in the 400 all year, then got beat by Josh Mance, who ended up running in the U.S. Olympics.”
That’s the kind of speed we’re talking about not just football-fast, but track-fast. Olympic-fast.
And yet, somehow, that part of Woods’ game has long been overlooked, buried beneath the steady numbers of a consummate professional wideout: 683 receptions, more than 8,000 career receiving yards, and 38 touchdowns.
Woods laughed when asked why his speed hasn’t been a bigger part of his narrative. He points back to one of the most pivotal moments in a young player’s career: the NFL Combine.
“I ended up going with the football speed coaches instead of my track coach,” Woods said, half-grinning, half-wincing. “Slowed me down with little ticks. Your 40 sticks with you. It stays out there and that’s your official time. You don’t get past it.”
That time an official 4.51 in the 40-yard dash is far from slow. But in a league where every fraction of a second can change a draft grade, I wonder if he sneaks into round one with a 4.42 forty.
“Combine 40 was 4.51. I think I should’ve been probably 4.42 or 4.43,” Woods said, with no bitterness in his voice. “I think I’m probably back where I started right now, at age 33. Still got some wheels. I mean, I’m running around here keeping up with the young guys. I take pride in that being able to stay with them and set the pace sometimes.”
And here in Latrobe sleeping in dorms, eating in the cafeteria, walking to the practice fields Woods can’t help but feel like he’s stepped into a time machine.
“Dorm life again 13 years later,” Woods said with a grin. “It’s full circle.”
That dorm-room déjà vu instantly pulls Woods back to his rookie training camp days in Rochester, New York, with the Buffalo Bills. One memory sticks out more than the rest.
“Yeah, I remember being in the dorms at St John Fisher,” recalls Wood after morning practice. “EJ manual and Kevin Kolb, were my quarterbacks. Just remember grinding it out. Remember one of my first days running a hitch with Kevin Kolb. Ball flies by me and he screams at me, Get your fucking head around. I’m like, oh shit, I gotta get right.
“Then I see the same day. He’s like, oh, this guy’s gonna be a heck of a player, great player. It was like, Oh, just the experience. I was like, Man, he’s fucking ripping me at practice. He’s praising me in the media. And it was just, just full circle, just like, don’t get too high, don’t get too low, and stay the course.”
It’s a perfect full-circle perspective. From getting barked at by Kolb in a college dorm in upstate New York to walking the same halls at Saint Vincent College, now as the guy with 10,000 NFL snaps under his belt and the respect that comes with it.
And here in Latrobe, as the pads are closing in and the competition ramps up, Woods isn’t just present. He’s pacing the group.
Thirteen years in and still leaving people chasing him. I guess it would be Aaron Rodgers giving him the motherf-ed than Kolb.
Photo Credit Frank Hyatt/College2Pro.com
