Woodman Headed to NFL Rookie Minicamp
Utica, NY – Utica College senior
Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor) has been invited to attend the New York Giants rookie minicamp and will be headed there on Thursday morning, marking the first student-athlete in the 15 year history of the football program to earn an invite to an NFL rookie minicamp.
"It makes me feel really good to represent Utica College and Utica New York on the national stage. It's an opportunity to put UC on the map and show people that we have talent here in Utica," said Woodman. "We're a small school but we can still play with the big boys."
Woodman, a native of Utica, NY and Proctor High School graduate, went undrafted this weekend but received calls about the possibility of attending rookie minicamp from the New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals and the New York Giants following the draft.
"We're beyond excited for
Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor)!" said UC football Head Coach
Blaise Faggiano. "Throughout this whole process when the pro scouts called me on the phone we never needed to talk about football. We talked about how he is captain, he is going to graduate on time, he had an internship, he is getting good grades, he has excellent character, comes from a great family and has a tremendous work ethic. To be able to talk to NFL scouts about a young man in that fashion – that's what it's all about. We're very proud of Nick and all that he has accomplished to this point."
As of this afternoon a D3football.com article listed seven Division III student-athletes who have signed free agent NFL contracts and five others, including Woodman, have been invited, (unsigned) to attend rookie minicamps.
Woodman, who attended a Pro Day at Fordham University in March and has attracted the attention of several NFL teams, is scheduled to graduate from Utica College this Spring with a degree in Public Relations/Journalism and a concentration in Sports Communications.
He capped his collegiate playing career this past Fall with several honors including being named an All-American for the first time in his career by D3football.com. Woodman, who was also a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award presented to the top defensive player in small college football, made his third straight Empire 8 All-Conference appearance and his second straight all-conference first team selection this past Fall.
The 6-foot-5, 240-pound defensive end in college also made his first appearance on the D3football.com All-Region first team this Fall after being selected to the second team in 2014. He will graduate ranked first all-time at UC in career sacks (29.5), second in career forced fumbles (six), fifth all-time in career tackles for a loss (114), and he is tied for first in single season tackles for a loss (20.0). He also broke his own school-record with 13.0 sacks this past season. He ranked first in the conference and fifth in DIII in sacks per game (1.30) and first in the conference and eighth in DIII in tackles for a loss per game (2.0). He finished the season with 66 total tackles, two forced fumbles, two blocked kicks, and one touchdown.