SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. Jamal Woods had a choice. Take the long trip home and spend a few days with his family in Alabama, or take a short car ride from Champaign and visit Illini teammate Bobby Roundtree at his rehabilitation center in downtown Chicago before traveling to California for the Redbox Bowl.

So I went up there with Bobby, Woods told Illini Inquirer between quarters of watching the Golden State Warriors take on the Phoenix Suns on Friday. And he looked really good.

Woods and several of his teammates (Kenyon Jackson, Tymir Oliver and Dele Harding) passed on a rare opportunity to head home to see their families on Christmas so Roundtree who suffered a severe spinal injury last spring in a swimming accident near his hometown of Largo (Fla.) would feel closer to family during the holidays.

Hes far away from Florida, so he aint really got much family up here either, said Woods, who used to be Roundtrees roommate. We are his family. I just wanted to go up there and spend Chrismas with him. We help him out with his rehabilitation period, and it was really very good.

Roundtree, a star defender for Illinois during his 2018 sophomore season, had kept his arduous recoveryfrom his unfortunate May injury mostly private duringthe last year. But he recently has publicized his progress. He made his first return trip to campus during the Illinis final game of the regular season on Nov. 30.

Since then, the usually effervescent Roundtree has been more boisterous on social media. On Dec. 20, he showed a video of him doing push-ups. The video received more than 3,000 likes on Twitter. The following day, he shared a video of him exercising with ropes, which also received more than 3,000 likes on Twitter.

Woods said he and Roundtree discussed a few weeks ago that he should share his journey with the public and provide inspiration to others who are going through similar physical struggles. Roundtree plans to start a YouTube channel toshare his journey.

Hes more open now than what he was in the past, Woods said. He listened to what I said.

Woods and the Illini hope they give Roundtree extra energy and motivation in his rehab. When Woods visited Roundtree on Christmas, Woods saw the same energy and competitive fire Roundtree brought on the field.

We went to the hospital with him a few days ago, and they said we could watch him do rehab. We could watch him or we could help him out, Woods said. We just want to do whatever we can to help him out. Hes so competitive. He was doing some weights, and the lady was trying to hold him back with how much he could do. He was like, No, lets add five more pounds. Then lets add 10 more pounds."

Woods said he's seen Roundtree's positivity increase during the last few weeks as his body, especially his upper-body strength, has shown improvement.

When it first happened, he has that hard-working mentality, but I know he was down when it first happened," Woods said. "But so much progress is being brought forth upon him, and hes just taking it to the next level. He already knows the outcome is going to be what he wants, so he just knows he has to work hard every day and the results will come to him.

Illinois plans to bring Roundtree back to the Illinois campus in January to continue his recovery and studies. Hes come a long way since Woods received that devastating May phone call.

Bobbys been my roommate since freshman year. When coach told me, I broke down in tears, Woods said. I was at home watching TV in the living room. I broke down in tears. But now, Bobby knows everything is going to be all right. So Im uplifting with him. Im happy about how his progress is going. Everything is going to be all right.

The Illinis visits to Roundtree provide healing for not only Roundtree but also for themselves. That makes the choice to make the trip even easier.

Going up to see Bobby, man, every time it brings joy to me, Woods said. It also brings joy to him.

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Teammates see Roundtree 'more open' with recovery, progress - 247Sports