Edge rusher Jayden Woods, No. 0, is coming off a strong performance in Florida's victory at Auburn. (Photo: Alyssa Morrison/UAA Communications)
'The Max' Effect: How Jayden Woods Was Built
Friday, September 25, 2026 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — He is the one they watch now.
They gaped at the video that Rusty Whitt, Florida's director of football performance, posted on Instagram in July of Jayden Woods power-cleaning 405 pounds. Their mouths dropped when Florida head coach Jon Sumrall mentioned that the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Woods ran 20.6 mph on the GPS during summer workouts. And they paid close attention in the Gators' win at Auburn last week as Woods turned in the best performance of his career with 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
A sophomore edge rusher, Woods has the potential to be on everyone's lips on Sundays someday based on his immense physical gifts and work ethic. But less than a decade ago, in a three-level home in the suburbs of Kansas City, Woods was a young boy watching, studying and dreaming in "The Max."
Jayden Woods made his presence felt in last week's win at Auburn. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images)
Jayden spent countless hours in the 1,600-square-foot gym his grandfather, Maxwell Woods Sr., built in the basement for his bodybuilding career and to train hundreds of young athletes. They came to him slowly at first, but as word of mouth spread and Maxwell's techniques delivered undeniable results, his hobby turned into a side business.
Maxwell Woods has trained hundreds of kids over the past 30 years in "The Max," his man cave, where he helped his four sons train their minds and bodies to chase their goals of playing college football. Justin Woods (left) and Jayden during a father-and-son outing at a Kansas City Chiefs game. (Photo: Courtesy of the Woods family)
All four boys found a spot on a college roster, including Jayden's father, Justin Woods, a 5-foot-8, 165-pound running back/defensive back who signed with Kansas State out of Mill Valley (Kan.) High, the same school Jayden starred at. Justin was already a father at 20, Jayden's age today, and he finished his career at Division II Pittsburgh State.
But Maxwell is an unlikely architect of a football family. He is from the Bahamas and has never worn a helmet or shoulder pads.
"He doesn't know anything about football," Jayden said. "He loves watching it now. He never played. He just says that for my dad and uncles, his job was to get them ready to play football."
Maxwell came to the United States at 22 and enrolled at Langston University, an HBCU in Oklahoma, where he ran track. He met his wife Portia while there, and when Portia graduated and moved to the Kansas City area, Maxwell said goodbye to Langston to be with Portia.
While he had no interest in football at the time, that changed when their sons – Maxwell Jr., David, Justin and Nick – came along. The couple is awaiting their 14th grandchild, and they are fond of them all, of course, but Jayden's early interest in hanging out with Maxwell at "The Max" helped form a special bond.
"Me and my dad, we sat down, we talked about it," Justin said. "My dad was like, 'Hey, I'm going to take care of the weight room side. You take care of the football side.' That's what we did. Then Jayden took it seriously and rolled with it." Middle-schooler Jayden Woods with his grandfather Maxwell Woods in "The Max." (Photo: Courtesy of the Woods family)
As Maxwell's sons grew up and stopped playing, Jayden began pestering his grandfather about training him. Jayden was a student at Monticello Trails Middle School in Shawnee, Kansas, and had started to grow.
Maxwell had a heart-to-heart talk with Jayden about how serious he took his training and advised him on what it would take to produce results. Jayden was all in.
"It really didn't surprise me, though, because me and my brothers were the same,'' Justin said. "It was nothing that was ever really forced upon us. It was just something that we took a liking to."
Maxwell Woods will talk to you for an hour about young Jayden, one of his star pupils over the years. Maxwell turned 65 this month and recently had a knee replacement. He speaks with a Bahamian accent and has apparently never met a stranger.
When he is not in his gym working out twice a day or training clients, he is the life of the party. When he tells strangers how old he is, they sometimes don't believe him.
"I don't like fitness. I don't love fitness. I have a passion for fitness,'' Maxwell said.
When Sumrall flew to Kansas to visit Woods soon after taking over the Gators – Woods had entered the transfer portal and had ample interest from other suitors – he met the family and laid out his plans for Jayden and the Gators.
Woods soon recommitted to Florida, and when he returned to campus at the start of the spring semester, his new head coach showed him photos on his iPhone of a Caribbean cabbage-and-chicken dish Maxwell often cooks at home.
The grandfather and the coach hit it off.
"I've got a video with Jayden cooking it. And he is explaining to me what he's doing," Maxwell said. "He said, 'I'm going to send this to Coach.' And Coach Sumrall was like, 'Man, what is that y'all eating? That food looks good. I'm outside in the back, got some steak on the grill.' Jayden's like, 'Oh, Papa's doing steak tomorrow.'"
Jayden Woods was eager to join his grandfather in the weight room at an early age. (Photo: Courtesy of the Woods family)
Long before Sumrall entered Jayden's story, he had put in the work that led to their meeting.
Jayden committed to his grandfather's approach, and the results soon became evident. His muscles expanded, his workouts intensified, and his ability on the field blossomed.
When Jayden was in middle school, Maxwell and Portia would park in a lawn chair underneath one of the goalposts and watch from afar.
They got a lot of questions. Others began to notice that Jayden wasn't like the other kids.
"At the time, he was running back, and he used to play quarterback, too," Maxwell said. "We sat by ourselves, and people used to observe us, and then they'd say, 'Hey, are you guys related to that number 5 from Monticello Trails Middle School? That kid is something special.' Yeah, that's how it goes."
By the time Jayden reached Mill Valley, a local powerhouse program that won three state titles during his career, veteran head coach Joel Appleby knew the Woods family. Still, Jayden was the best of the bunch. Jayden's athletic prowess stretched beyond football. He was a state champion shot putter, too.
"He was the kid that walked in as a freshman — and not that we haven't had some Division I kids come through here other than Jayden — but he was a clear picture of what an athlete should look like as a freshman. You could point him out right away, for sure."
As Jayden became a top 100 recruit nationally in his senior season, Appleby's phone rarely stopped buzzing. Woods originally committed to Penn State and then-head coach James Franklin, who had recruited Justin to Kansas State two decades earlier.
However, Woods signed with the Gators as most of the country's major programs extended offers.
"You name the coach, they were in here in the office talking to him," Appleby said. "It was a great experience. He treated it the right way. He's never been — he's not a boastful kid."
Woods is developing into the kind of player those recruiters envisioned. He was named the Chuck Bednarik Award Player of the Week following his performance at Auburn. He leads the Gators with 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks entering Saturday's game against Ole Miss. One of Maxwell Woods' famous cabbage dishes before adding chicken, shrimp or sausage. (Photo: Courtesy of the Woods family)
Sumrall said Woods is just scratching the surface.
"He's really, really talented. I think the sky is the limit for what Jayden can achieve on the field," Sumrall said. "But what makes it fun working with him day in, day out is just, holistically, he's a fantastic person. He has high standards for himself in every area of his life and not just football. He's going to be successful in any endeavor he takes on just because of the way he's wired.
"He's hungry. He's eager. High output, low ego. When you coach guys like that, man, it's fun."
Regardless of how far football takes him, Woods always circles back to "The Max." That is where his journey truly started.
He and Maxwell remain close. Whenever Jayden goes home, they work out together in the gym and share Caribbean meals Maxwell cooks to maximize results.
Part of Jayden's heart lives in that basement gym.
"It was the same dumbbells, the same plates, everything my uncles and my dad went through,'' he said. "It was pretty cool growing up knowing it's the same weights they touched, that they put in the work with. That was a cool part. One thing, growing up, my dad would always tell me that they went way harder than I did because they had each other to push each other. But my grandpa's argument back was that I get the one-on-one training. I don't get to rest; I don't get to slip off and hide. It was true one-on-one. I love going back home and getting to work out in the basement."
A familiar face is always waiting on him.
"I can't take all the credit for this because my wife played a very important part in it. So did his dad,'' Maxwell said. "I am not going to say that. But we know where the foundation was laid."
