Jackson Norwood will rely on more than just his pure strength when lined up against an opponent this season.
The 6-foot-4, 270-pound defensive lineman also will use some of the skills that turned the Patrick Taylor football standout into a state champion wrestler.
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That combination of skills also could make Norwood, whose uncle Ralph Norwood played offensive line for LSU and got drafted into the NFL more than 35 years ago, into the most highly recruited football player since the school first fielded a varsity team in 2022.
"He naturally had the tools to do it," Patrick Taylor coach Kenny Bourgeois said about when Norwood joined the varsity as a freshman.
Everything since has been the result of his determination and effort. It's the only way he knows.
Norwood, who counts Tulane among the schools to have shown interest, refused to be outmuscled by his larger and more experienced opponents when he was a freshman. He showed during his sophomore season that he could push his way into the opposing backfield. He followed with a standout junior season that included 57 tackles, nine tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
He also emerged as one of the best wrestlers in the state -- roughly 15 months after he took up the sport for the first time. Norwood won the LHSAA Division III state wrestling championship with a takedown in overtime against Romyn Cortez of Basile in February.
"I remember the moment it happened," Norwood said. "It was kind of like, shock and awe. ... I thought about how proud my parents would be, how proud my dad would be if he could have been there to see it."
Norwood's father, Everett Norwood, died when Jackson was 8 years old, and the death was by natural causes, said Norwood's mother, Michelle Norwood.
Norwood, whose parents dated while at O. Perry Walker in the 1980s and reconnected again in the 2000s, said it was his late father who bought a pair of black fingerless gloves with gray padding for when Jackson played park ball as a 7-year-old lineman.
"That's where I first started playing football," said Norwood, who later went a few years without playing football before he picked up the sport again for good in eighth grade.
Once Norwood began playing football again, he never shied from a challenge.
"He got thrown into the fire as a freshman," said Bourgeois, adding that Norwood "learned how to be tough" during that season.
"He just kind of blended in with that group," Bourgeois said about how Norwood fit into the starting lineup. "He's not making a bunch of plays, but he's holding his own and getting after it."
Norwood took up wrestling because he wanted to try something new. He struggled that first year, going 5-18 with a loss in the first round at state against the same wrestler he beat in the state final a year later.
He remembered one challenging tournament that first year when he had his "heart set on winning at least one match in that tournament," he said. "I was thinking about how other people see me. I usually win a lot more. Quitting wrestling, I never had any thought about that."
Through wrestling, Norwood improved his footwork and learned to better use his hands against an opponent -- each a skill that can help on the football field. He also developed more physical endurance and a leaner physique.
Chuck Stall, the head wrestling coach and in his first season as defensive coordinator at Patrick Taylor, said the quicker feet and faster hands should let Norwood play multiple positions along the defensive front.
"I got some things in my defense where we can move him around a little bit," said Stall, a Brother Martin graduate.
Ralph Norwood, Jackson's NFL drafted uncle, went to the Atlanta Falcons at No. 38 overall in the second round in 1989 but died in a car accident midway through his rookie season.
Bourgeois, the Patrick Taylor coach, learned about Ralph Norwood during a practice when Jackson was in eighth grade.
"He was big, and you knew he could be good," said Bourgeois, who asked Jackson after a couple weeks of practices if he had any family who played football, and Jackson mentioned he "had an uncle who played for the Falcons."
Bourgeois, who attended Jesuit, said most in-state colleges have shown in interest in Norwood. Norwood attended the Tulane football camp during the summer, and a pair of Tulane coaches worked him out once at the high school.
His college future is undetermined. But for now, his next task is to complete his high school football career. He then will try for another wrestling state championship.