Jeff Woody may be entering his fifth season, but he is still doing plenty of learning.

There have no doubt been many teaching moments from the veteran Woody to the younger ISU running backs this spring. At the same time, Woody has also taken some instruction on his own as he has spent more time in front of the backfield at tight end.

“He’ll always be a guy that’s going to be able to get you those hard yards,” said offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham. “But he’s also now really become where he can play tight end, he can play a flexed-out wideout, he can play a move guy as a fullback and then he can play tailback.”

With an excess of running backs already competing for time next season, Woody is now seeking other ways to put his 242-pound frame to use for the Cyclones.

There will certainly still be snaps for Woody in the backfield on the short-down situations he’s become known for. The most famous was Woody’s three consecutive runs against No. 2 Oklahoma State in 2011 that ended with a 4-yard burst into the end zone to clinch the biggest victory in program history.

Yet at the same time, Woody sees this new opportunity, too.

“It’s using the personnel that you have,” Woody said. “Whether it’s a fast guy that you have and put him at tailback and receiver. Whether it’s me, I’m a bigger guy, with me at tailback or tight end.”

Woody doesn’t have much experience receiving, catching three passes — two for touchdowns — last season for 9 yards and four passes the year prior for 30 yards.

Woody initially approached the coaches in 2011 about the idea of playing tight end, but estimates that he saw maybe 1 percent of his snaps there.

“I was like, ‘Hey coach, I’ll play some tight end if you want me to,'” Woody said.

The coaches eventually caved to Woody’s idea this spring. With injuries to tight ends E.J. Bibbs and Ernst Brun in recent weeks, Woody began seeing more action on the line.

While Woody has a strong grasp of terminology and plays, the new position has come with some learning moments.

“At running back I can do it in my sleep and just tell you where you need to go because I’ve done it for so long,” Woody said. “At tight end it’s a new thing, so you need to know where your aiming points are, where exact landmarks are.”

That will be a point of emphasis for Woody moving forward as he plans to play as much tight end as possible.

“[I’ll play] as much as they’ll let me, it’s a fun position,” Woody said. “You get to be physical, you get to be nasty on blocks and occasionally you get a bone tossed your way and catch a route. When you catch a pass rather than taking a handoff, you have nothing but open space.”