It was somewhere along a quiet stretch of Interstate 75, on the drive back from Knoxville late Saturday night, that Tyrus Ward found himself lost in thought. As the headlights on his pickup truck guided Brainerd’s football coach back home to Chattanooga, he glanced over at the passenger’s seat and smiled when he saw Joseph Norwood, the reason for this whirlwind trip, reclined and fast asleep.
For nearly two months Ward and Norwood – Brainerd’s all-state defensive back – have crisscrossed the Southeast, making visits to Tulane, Georgia Tech, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Georgia State, Vanderbilt and others.
Recruiting trips for coach and player are not unusual; countless other coaches travel with star players to help them navigate the process of deciding where to attend college and continue their football careers.
But in an age when every high school player’s stat line and season highlights are updated and shared instantly on social media, Norwood is an enigma. Because he did not play football his junior year and had never played defense, he was an unknown in college coaching circles.
“That’s the name you hear more than any other kid in the state,” said one FBS-level college coach. “Nobody knew anything about this kid until some video started to get out late in the season, and now everybody is scrambling to get to know more because none of us want to miss the potential diamond in the rough.”