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Seventh is glad he returned home to USC

Hammond graduate talks about why he transferred from North Carolina to South Carolina

When he was in high school, Seventh Woods was a viral sensation with his posterizing dunks making their rounds all over social media that would blow up his phone.

These days, just a handful of years later as Woods transitions to college student life at South Carolina he’s get a different type of social media notification: people tweeting to him how happy they are the Columbia-native is back home.

“It’s probably like every day someone tells me they’re happy I’m home. I hear about it every day. It still feels surreal to me,” Woods said. “I hear it everywhere." 

Woods was a high school phenom coming out of Hammond in South Carolina’s back yard but ultimately chose to go up to North Carolina, picking the Tar Heels over his hometown team.

But, after three years in Chapel Hill, he opted to transfer back home to South Carolina, saying it was “perfect timing” to join Frank Martin and his program over schools like Gonzaga and Michigan.

“It was very close but Coach Frank had an advantage because he recruited me three years before that. We already had a relationship built. I trust him and he trusts me.”

A big factor in that was PJ Dozier, who Woods grew up with in Columbia—Woods graduated a year after Dozier, who played at Spring Valley.

Dozier, who was the starting point guard on the program’s 2017 Final Four team, was able to add a little perspective on why Woods should chose South Carolina.

“I talked to PJ right before I decided on where to go,” Woods said. “He gave me the run down, told me how good the coaches were and how they helped him. Hopefully they can help me in the same way.”

With no scholarships remaining in the 2019 class, Woods will spend this year as a walk-on and sitting out due to transfer rules before going on scholarship next season when he’ll be eligible.

That was always the plan during his second recruitment process with Frank Martin saying a year away from playing will give him a chance to step out of the limelight and soak in a new system.

“Coming in and learning a new system we didn’t want to rush anything,” Woods said. “Let’s use this year as a sit out year and come out next year and give it all I got.”

Three years after choosing North Carolina, talking to the media at South Carolina’s practice facility, Woods seems at peace with the decisions he’s made.

He knows the flak he got leaving the state to play college basketball but he’s back now and ready to see what his South Carolina career holds.

“I definitely get it, but some guys have to be selfish with their decision. They’re the ones having to play in college for the next four years so they have to be comfortable and in a place where they can produce at a high level.”

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