Jerious Norwood facts for kids
Norwood in 2009
|
|||||||||||||
| No. 32, 34 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Running back / Kick returner | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | July 29, 1983 Brandon, Mississippi, U.S. |
||||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Brandon | ||||||||||||
| College: | Mississippi State | ||||||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 2006 / Round: 3 / Pick: 79 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||||
| Player stats at CFL.ca (archive) | |||||||||||||
Jerious Montreal Norwood (born July 29, 1983) is an American former professional football player. He played as a running back in the National Football League (NFL). Jerious played college football for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. He is known as the school's second all-time leading rusher. The Atlanta Falcons chose him in the third round of the 2006 NFL draft.
Contents
Early Life as a Football Star
Jerious Norwood grew up in Brandon, Mississippi. He played football and ran track at Brandon High School. He was a high school All-American, which means he was one of the best players in the country!
He was also named "Mr. Football" in Mississippi. This honor goes to the most outstanding high school football player in the state. During his high school career, Jerious scored 92 touchdowns. This placed him fourth all-time on the state's career-scoring list. He also gained over 8,000 all-purpose yards.
In his junior year, he had 3,229 all-purpose yards and 38 touchdowns. As a senior, he was named Mississippi's Gatorade Player of the Year. He rushed for 2,878 yards and scored 32 touchdowns. He also had 9 catches for 165 yards and 3 touchdowns. He even averaged 46.9 yards on 6 kick returns, scoring one touchdown. In one playoff game, he rushed for a school record of 367 yards!
Besides football, Jerious was also a talented sprinter and high hurdler in track & field.
College Football Career
Jerious Norwood was a three-year starter at Mississippi State. He rushed for over 100 yards in 13 different games. This broke the school record! He started 29 out of 46 games. He set a school record with 3,222 career rushing yards. He carried the ball 573 times, averaging 5.6 yards per carry, and scored 15 touchdowns.
Freshman Year (2002)
In 2002, Jerious was named to the Knoxville News Sentinel Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team as a kick returner. He was second on his team with 394 rushing yards. He also caught 5 passes and returned 14 kicks.
Sophomore Year (2003)
In 2003, Jerious played in every game and started 8 of them. He finished the season with 642 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.
Junior Year (2004)
In 2004, Jerious started every game. He became the sixth player in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season. He gained 1,050 yards on 195 carries with 7 touchdowns. He had five games where he rushed for over 100 yards, including one game where he gained over 200 yards!
Senior Year (2005)
As a senior in 2005, Jerious won the Conerly Award. This award goes to the best college football player in the state of Mississippi. He led his team with 1,136 rushing yards on 191 carries. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry and scored 6 touchdowns without fumbling the ball once! He also had 19 catches for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns. His total of 1,275 all-purpose yards that season ranks eighth in school history.
Professional Football Career
Jerious Norwood showed great skill in college, which led him to the NFL.
Atlanta Falcons (2006–2010)
The Atlanta Falcons picked Jerious in the third round of the 2006 NFL draft. He was the 79th player chosen overall.
In his first year, 2006, Jerious played in 14 games. He was third on the team with 633 rushing yards. He averaged an amazing 6.4 yards per carry and scored 2 touchdowns. He also caught 12 passes for 102 yards.
Jerious made NFL history! His first two career touchdown runs were both over 70 yards. His 78-yard touchdown run against the Arizona Cardinals was the second longest in Falcons history at that time. In that same game, he and quarterback Mike Vick both rushed for over 100 yards. This was only the second time in Falcons history that a quarterback and a running back both gained over 100 rushing yards in the same game.
In 2007, Jerious played in 15 games. He gained 613 yards on 103 carries. He led all NFL running backs with an average of 6.0 yards per carry! This showed how efficient he was when he ran the ball. He continued to be a strong player for the Falcons, making important runs and catches.
St. Louis Rams (2011)
After his time with the Falcons, Jerious signed with the St. Louis Rams on August 2, 2011. He played 9 games for them that season.
Toronto Argonauts (2013)
On August 14, 2013, Jerious signed with the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He made his first CFL start on September 21. In that game, he rushed for 68 yards and caught 4 passes for 67 yards. He had his first 100-yard rushing game in the CFL against the Montreal Alouettes, gaining 108 yards on 8 carries. He finished the season with 342 rushing yards, 234 receiving yards, and 113 kickoff return yards. He was released by the Argonauts in May 2014.
Career Statistics Summary
Throughout his NFL career, Jerious Norwood played in 66 games. He had 399 rushing attempts for a total of 2,056 rushing yards, scoring 7 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 96 passes for 912 receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns.
Personal Life
Jerious Norwood has a daughter named Ja'Nyla Norwood.
