HOUSTON – Woody Marks is a serious enough bowler that he owns custom bowling balls.
Growing up in Atlanta, his brother worked in a bowling alley and that was where the Texans running back spent a lot of time.
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“I’m pretty good,” Marks told KPRC 2. “I would just go up there and just bowl all day.”
Marks is holding his first annual charity bowling tournament Sunday at Lucky Strike in Houston to benefit the community through his foundation, which helps youth in Houston and Atlanta. He’ll be joined by several of his teammates and Toro.
“Put smiles on people’s faces,” Marks said. “Just stay level-headed,” Marks said. “Stay in school. This world we live in, we need everybody. Just stay in school, get good grades, and then see what life takes you on to that with whatever major you want to go into, whatever you want to do in life, no matter if it’s a football player or be a doctor, just do what’s good for you, and just strive to be the best.”
That’s what the Texans are aiming for, setting their ambitions on a Super Bowl run after reaching the AFC divisional round each of the past three seasons.
“We just seen it on our first team meeting back, trying to be the first team to put a bull on the ring,” Marks said. “Really believe that, we really want that to come true this year. We’re going to take it day by day and it start right now in the offseason.”
During the Texans’ road trip to Detroit for a joint practice and preseason game with the Lions last year, Marks was focused on his job during his first NFL preseason.
He still couldn’t help but notice the obvious energy, skill and intensity of the Lions’ offensive backfield headlined by running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.
Now, Marks is teaming up with Montgomery after a roster-shaking trade as he joined the Texans in exchange for fourth-round and seventh-round draft selections and offensive guard Juice Scruggs.
The tandem that Gibbs, nicknamed ‘Sonic,’ for his dynamic running, and Montgomery, known as ‘Knuckles,’ for his punishing running style, is something for Marks to emulate.
“I’m very excited,” Marks told KPRC 2. “Just looking back at the clips with him and Jahmyr Gibbs, it looked like they was having so much fun out there. When the running back room doing good and everybody blocking, it’s a party in the running back room. So, we’re looking to have that same joy him and Jahmyr Gibbs had bringing it down here in Houston.
“He’s a funny guy. We’re going over plays and stuff right now. Get on the field for a short amount of time. We run plays. He wanted to change the plays to funny names. He’s a great guy. Just working out with him and then with the other backs there, we get along. We’re just clicking together.”
The arrival of Montgomery as the lead running back and primary replacement for injured former Pro Bowl selection Joe Mixon, who was released for a savings of $8 million, should allow Marks to stay fresh in a complementary role that should involve a lot of opportunities to catch passes out of the backfield in offensive coordinator Nick Caley’s playbook.
A fourth-round draft pick from USC, Marks was a prolific pass-catching presence there and at Mississippi State before transferring.
“Nick Caley is doing a great job right now,” Marks said. “Got me doing all types of routes, learning the route tree. Just get outside and just using me as he can so I can be productive.”
Marks rushed for a team-high 703 yards on 196 carries last season after taking over the starting job from five-time Pro Bowl selection Nick Chubb. He rushed for a season-high 112 yards and a touchdown run in an AFC wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It was kind of stressful at the beginning, didn’t want to mess up on anything,” Marks said. “I was always just asking questions. I was really just trying to do everything I can do. Try to be perfect. Which I couldn’t be, but it was a great season. I still have room to grow. It never stops.”
The emergence of Gibbs led to a reduced workload for Montgomery, who had 158 carries last season. A former Chicago Bears third-round draft pick, Montgomery has rushed for 6,115 career yards and 59 touchdowns. He rushed for 1,015 yards and 13 touchdowns his first season in Detroit in 2023 and 775 yards and 12 touchdowns two seasons ago. His career-high for rushing yards is 1,070 yards in 2020 in Chicago, his second season in the league.
Montgomery rushed for 4.5 yards per carry last season and has averaged 4.1 yards per run for his career. The Texans’ running game ranked 22nd overall, 3.9 yards per carry, 29th in the NFL, and 31st with nine touchdown runs. They needed reinforcements. Montgomery provides that anchor for their running game.
“Love him as a back, watched him a couple times, him and Jahmyr Gibbs, see how they complement each other,” Marks said. “We reached out to each other already, just time to get to work. Having another back in the backfield is always good. There’s less I can take off of my body and there’s less he can take off his body, and we’re just ready to get to work.”
Texans Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins is seeing encouraging signs from quarterback C.J. Stroud who’s been described as locked in and ultra-focused on the heels of an uncharacteristically rocky playoffs that included five interceptions and five fumbles and seven turnovers with a career-high four interceptions in a divisional round loss to the New England Patriots. Collins sees Stroud regaining his NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl form and a big season unfolding after uncharacteristic performances in the playoffs.
For his career, the former second overall pick, consensus All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist from Ohio State has completed 63.8 percent of his throws for 10,876 yards, 62 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.
“Different guy, different dude, man on a mission,” Collins told KPRC 2 during his annual youth football camp last Saturday at Santa Fe High School. “Man, he’s ready to hunt.”
Marks sees a similar approach from Stroud, who has been training with his teammates in Houston throughout the offseason conditioning program. Stroud is noticeably leaner and is sporting a new shorter haircut.
“Yeah, he’s been there since March 2, since we started the offseason workout, he’s been grinding,” Marks said. “Got a new look. He kind of told me the end of the season that he was going to cut his hair. I wasn’t believing it. He’s been working.
“Just seeing the quarterback, the leader of the team out there working in the offseason, not working somewhere else, putting in work at where he belongs at and that’s in Houston. He’s been doing a tremendous job. He got bigger and stronger. His times when we were running outside, he’s getting faster. I’d say he should be using his legs a lot this year, too.”
The Texans have invested heavily in their offensive line this year.
They retained right guard Ed Ingram on a three-year, $37.5 million contract. They signed right tackle Braden Smith to a two-year, $25 million deal and left guard Wyatt Teller to a two-year, $23 million contract. They also drafted offensive guard-center Keylan ‘Big Red’ Rutgled in the first round out of Georgia Tech.
“I think they’re doing a good job,” Marks said of general manager Nick Caserio and coach DeMeco Ryans’ emphasis on the blocking. “They’ve been working their tails off, I’ll say the whole lineman group, just been working and doing extra stuff out there on the field.”
Ryans has been instilling his standards of accountability and leadership in the new players and the rookie class.
“The culture is set,” Ryans said. “I don’t have to say much on it, but I still have to make sure I teach our rookies what that looks like. A lot of guys are coming from a lot of different places all over the country, a lot of different schools that do things a lot of different ways. We’re just going to have to let them know how we do it here in Houston.”
One year into playing for Ryans, Marks is excited about what’s next.
He sees the team continuing its winning tradition.
“It’s a tight culture,” Marks said. “I would say when we went up to West Virginia and we had our training camp, that’s when I really felt the real tightness because it’s really not much to do around there. We just bonded like real tight. It’s not one section after another. And everybody looks out from each other.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com