A beam of light shines through the cracks of the dark clouds hovering over the 1-3 Florida Atlantic football team, and it shines directly on the team’s redshirt junior wide receiver.

Kalib Woods, a public safety administration major from Jacksonville, Florida, has become redshirt quarterback Jason Driskel’s go-to receiver in the Owls first four games this season. His 23 receptions more than double the amount of anyone else on his team, while his 371 receiving yards account for 41.3 percent of the team’s total yards through the air.

In the loss against Miami, Woods recorded 121 of the team’s 214 total yards. The next week at Kansas State, he accounted for 82 of FAU’s 211 yards.

In just four games, he already surpassed his career-high of 330 receiving yards from the previous year. The redshirt junior ranks fifth in Conference USA in receiving yards per game and is also on pace to set new career highs in both receptions and yards per reception as well as to tie his career high of touchdowns.

“It’s actually amazing, the yard totals from my last two years to this year because I didn’t really notice,” Woods said. “But when I looked at it, I surprised myself.”

The newly formed tandem discovered their connection when they needed each other the most. The departures of former starters, quarterback Jaquez Johnson and wide receiver Jenson Stoshak, created vacancies for both the starting quarterback and the No. 1 receiving option.

Driskel needed a receiver he could count on, and Woods needed a quarterback who trusted him to emerge as the top option among several other receivers — such as juniors Nate Terry, Kamrin Solomon and Henry Bussey — who were just as capable to take the reins.

“Kalib has a lot of trust from Driskel and that’s why when the read goes to Kalib, if [Driskel] thinks he has a shot to get it there, he’s going to take that shot,” head coach Charlie Partridge said. “It’s fun to see that connection grow.”

That trust Driskel has in Woods begins with the latter’s work ethic. Woods’ efforts became so infectious that his teammates voted him to be on of the team’s five captains prior to the season.

When Partridge revealed the captains to the public, he noted that the choice wasn’t about popularity or talent, but the will to work and the ability to hold his teammates accountable.

Driskel sees those traits in his wideout.

“He’s one of our best receivers, he’s a captain on our team, he’s a guy who comes into work every day and it shows on Saturday,” said the quarterback.

The 1-3 start may be overshadowing Woods breakout season, but he’s still not content with his individual output.

“I know that I’m not satisfied with it,” he said. “I’m going to keep grinding keep going, trying to improve those numbers to the best I can.”

Brendan Feeney is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @feeney42.