His work ethic was always praised by head coach John Cann and defensive coordinator Russell Mahaffey.
Wood, who will be playing college football at Guilford College in the fall, is putting that work ethic to use in another sport over the summer.
The Guilford freshman is working hard at weightlifting But not just any weightlifting.
He recently competed in the South Carolina state championship, an event sanctioned by the United States of America Power Lifting Federation.
Wood competed in the Teen Weight Class 220 category, the Teen Bench Press category and the Mens Open Division.
He ended up setting four state records in age 18-19 squat, bench, dead lift and total weight.
He was second in the mens open division.
He did 500 pounds on the squat. The previous record was 295 pounds. He lifted 320 pounds in the bench press, breaking the previous state record of 250 pounds. He deadlifted 425 pound and his total weight was 1,250 pounds. Both of those were new state records.
Wood found the sport through his dad, David. David Wood used to compete on the weightlifting circuit.
His dad found the tournament on the internet and Wood began training for it. He started training eight weeks ago with Fat Babys Gym out of Spartanburg.
The training paid off.
Just a year ago, Wood maxed out in the squat at 440 pounds and the bench at 260 pounds.
The competition was on June 28.
I didnt know what to expect, he said. It felt real good (to perform so well).
So where does Wood want to take this?
The strengthening is obviously going to help him on the football field in the fall, he pointed out, but he wants to take this farther.
Wood wants to win multiple world championships by the time hes 24 or 25, he said.
With so much progress in just eight weeks and with Woods blue collar work ethic, that might just be an attainable dream.