2024 Player of the Year: Westside QB Cutter Woods
In this article:
The numbers? Ridiculous.
The throws? More of the same.
But in breaking down everything that made
Cutter Woods
Cutter
Woods
6'3" | 185 lbs | QB
Westside | 2025
State
SC
so special during his time at Westside, something an opposing coach picked up on the biggest stage each of the last two years spoke volumes few had ever heard about the Rams senior.
"Everybody sees how he throws the ball and 'Wow, he can throw the ball so well,'" said South Florence's Drew Marlowe, the coach who split the last two Class 4A titles with Woods' Rams. "The average fan doesn't see that he checks a lot of plays. I don't think he just checks protections. He gets them in the right play. His ability to direct a defense, I've never seen a high school kid be able do to that. I've never seen a kid check, move people around and then run a play.
"It is truly, truly impressive. You don't see that in high school. You don't see people moving people around pre-snap and then that play working. He also has a great arm, throws a beautiful deep ball. He's just a winner."
Woods, the 2024 Prep RedZone South Carolina Player of the Year Presented by Harrison's, is spending this week as an early enrollee at the University of South Carolina while the Gamecocks begin preparation for their bowl game. As such, he'll have to wait to receive his trophy in a small presentation upon his return.
His college prospects, though, factored little - if at all - into the months-long process the led to us naming him as our inaugural honoree for this award. In fact, he was one of just eight Power 4 commitments inside the 10 finalists. And there were even more in our initial list of 30 semifinalists that were released on November 11.
No, Woods earned the trophy because of the success he displayed on high school football fields around the state this fall, including his final one in Orangeburg during last week's Class 4A state championship appearance. There, Woods and his teammates fell a point short of bringing home a second consecutive state championship, but not before putting on one heck of an offensive show.
The Rams signal caller finished 11-of-19 for 411 yards and six touchdowns, numbers that all but circumvented the fact that Westside possessed the ball for less than 10 minutes the entire game. Woods found
Chamarryus Bomar
Chamarryus
Bomar
6'0" | 180 lbs | ATH
Westside | 2025
State
SC
four times, all of which went for scores. He connected with
Armoni Weaver
Armoni
Weaver
5'11" | 170 lbs | ATH
Westside | 2025
State
SC
for a fifth touchdown and Dreson Evans for No. 6.
"It didn't come out our way, but I was super grateful to be there," Woods said by phone from Columbia. "We were having fun, just enjoying it."
It's safe to say that was a common theme for Woods during his now-past high school days. At Westside, he threw for more than 11,000 yards, piling up six 300-yard games and a pair of 400-yard ones. His numbers were a fraction of what they might have been had Westside not been blowing out most of its opponents during that span.
The last few hours of it were also a blur, and there wasn't much downtime between the title game and reporting to Columbia Monday morning to begin his first official day as a Gamecock. Woods said he was trying to stay grounded throughout all of it.
As far as reflection went, there wasn't much time for that. But he made sure to recognize those who've helped him get to where he is, starting with Westside's Brian Lane.
"That's all the great coaches I've been coached by," he said. "I've had the best coaches around. Coach Lane, all of them, just trusted me."
