SI All-American Candidate Dreyden Norwood Highlights and Evaluation
Prospect: Dreyden Norwood
Status: SI All-American Candidate
Vitals: 6-foot, 175 pounds
Position: Athlete
School: Fort Smith (Ark.) Northside
Schools of Interest: Notre Dame, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, Auburn, Texas A&M and Oklahoma, among others.
Projected Position: Safety
Frame: Athletic and fairly high-cut. Lean bulk with decent carve and definition. Has room to add substantial mass.
Athleticism: Competes as a sprinter in 100-meter dash and relay team in track and field. Quicker than fast athlete with above-average stride. Works with good balance, change of direction and lower-base coordination. Flashes good short-area quickness and burst.
Instincts: Instincts appear natural with the ball in his hands when playing QB. Good play awareness and vision on both sides of the ball. Flashes fair route anticipation and feel in off-coverage alignments. Decent to play run from perimeter depth.
Polish: Asked to focus more as a dual-threat quarterback currently for his high school team. Is lacking coverage reps as a defensive back and must continue developing coverage skills. Appears to possess movement skills and traits of a split safety at this point, as opposed to cover corner.
Bottom Line: Norwood’s main contribution at this point is as a quarterback, which makes him more of a projection as a defensive back. He does possess solid athleticism, agility and quickness, which are promising traits to play in the secondary. However, he does not currently have many reps playing on the back end. Look for Norwood to perhaps be developed as a safety or nickel back at the collegiate level.