Pierre Woods — racing past a Tennessee Titan in an exhibition game last year — is vying for a bigger role with the Patriots’ defense.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

FOXBORO — A friendly tip: Don’t ever let your mother be in full football gear in the vicinity of Pierre Woods.

Because he will take her out, without apology.

“I love football. I always have loved football,” Woods said yesterday. “There’s nothing in this world that I would rather do than play football. I’ll hit your mother if she had equipment on. If you have equipment and you’re from the opposing team, I’m going to hit. That’s just what it is, football.”

He’s mostly joking, but Woods’ propensity for hitting anything that moves on the football field can only serve him well as he makes his case to play a larger role with the Patriots’ defense this season.

Now in his third season, the former undrafted free agent out of Michigan started tongues wagging after his performance on Thursday night against Baltimore, when he had three tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

He started the game at outside linebacker and did well showing off the moves he worked on this offseason, such as hand placement, rush techniques and dropping back in coverage.

The standout play earned him a larger-than-he-expected media crowd yesterday, causing Woods to lament that he was caught on camera with his hair not as tidy as he would have preferred. He’s sporting a mini-Afro these days, though when camp opened, it was twisted into baby locks.

In his deep yet quiet voice, Woods repeatedly mentions working hard, as that is the only thing he knows.

“I’m still working, still working, trying to get better each day,” he said. “My pass rush got better, (but) I still can work on my drops and there’s other things I can work on. Overall I think I got a little bit better, but there’s still a lot of work ahead. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel — there’s a long way to go.”

Though he led New England with 22 special-teams tackles last season, Woods watched the Patriots select three linebackers during draft weekend and bring in two more undrafted players at the position.

So he takes nothing for granted.

“My goal is to make the team. That’s my goal each year,” he said. “Never get complacent, never take anything for granted and keep working hard.”

For Woods, ‘not taking things for granted’ aren’t hollow words. He mentions the freak accident that nearly killed former Buffalo player Kevin Everett last season, but things are even more personal for him. Woods’ father, Lyle, from whom he learned the value of hard work and acquired a love of the open road, died just before his 15th birthday, making him the man of the house.

At a time when he was starting to run with the wrong crowd in his Cleveland neighborhood, the new responsibility changed Woods’ life.

With Mike Vrabel on the physically unable to perform list for the first two weeks of training camp, Woods had the opportunity to play with the first-team defense and knew he had to take advantage of it.

Bill Belichick has taken notice of Woods’ improvements.

“His experience level — sometimes it is hard to tell when experience turns to confidence and aggressiveness, and on the field it looks like that’s where it’s heading this year in training camp,” Belichick said recently of Woods. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence, both in the running game and the passing game. We know he is athletic and can play on special teams, but he seems to have taken the opportunity to get a little more playing time in camp and raised his level of play so far.”

While he admits that he’s still learning his playbook and questioning veterans Vrabel, Adalius Thomas and Rosevelt Colvin, who was in the locker next door before being released earlier this year, Woods is now a mentor to former Wolverines teammate Shawn Crable, whom he has known since they were teenagers in Ohio.

“I’ve known Shawn Crable since he was in eighth grade. He played on (one of) my AAU teams, we ran against each other in track, I went to Michigan, he went to Michigan, now I’m here and he’s here,” Woods said. “We have a long history together. … Shawn’s like my little brother; he’s good people. He’s going to do good things.”

He’s a good guy, Pierre Woods. Just don’t take it personally if he ever tackles your mother.

“Off the field you have to be loving and warm, and you have to try to be a good person, a good citizen,” he said. “But on the field a switch turns on and you’ve got to play.”

smanza@projo.com