Jerious Norwood

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Jerious Norwood
Date of birth	July 29, 1983
Place of birth	Jackson, Mississippi
Position(s)	Running back
College	Mississippi State
NFL Draft	2006 / Round 3 / Pick 79
Statistics	CBS.com
Team(s)
2006-Present	Atlanta Falcons

Jerious Norwood (Born July 29, 1983 in Jackson, Mississippi) is a current American Football running back for the Atlanta Falcons. He was drafted with the 15th pick in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played highschool football at Brandon High School in Brandon, MS where he was a highschool All-American. He was also Mississippi's Mr. Football, an honor given to the state's most outstanding highschool football player. He also set a state record 100 touchdowns, which is impressive because he was injured for a large part of his highschool playing days. He played college football at the Mississippi State University, where he is the school's all-time leading rusher with 3333 rushing yards. At the annual draft combine, Norwood had an impressive 40 yard dash time of 4.32 seconds. He has earned the nickname around the team of "Darkness", mainly for the extreme dark color of his skin. He is also affectionately called "Baby Dog" by a fellow team mate as he is the third and youngest (FB Fred McCrary, FB Justin Griffith) player on the same team from Mississippi State University. Norwood is considered by some to be the greatest football player to ever play at Mississippi State, and despite many losses during his college career, he said he followed his heart there and loved playing there.

[edit] NFL Career

Jerious Norwood recorded his first NFL touchdown, a seventy-eight yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter of a Week 5 game against the Arizona Cardinals. That run was the Atlanta Falcons record for the longest run from scrimmage, until starting running back Warrick Dunn broke the record with a 90 yard touchdown against the New York Giants the following week. Jerious is considered by many to have been the steal of the 2006 draft, as he has already found great success both rushing and receiving as a compliment to the aging Warrick Dunn. In 11 regular season games, Jerious has amassed 411 yards rushing on 68 carries, with a 6.0 yard average (best among all NFC running backs). Eventually, he is expected to become the feature back for the Atlanta Falcons (a team that has led the NFL in rushing for the past three seasons).