Our Honor Defend

With shooty hoops coming to an unfortunately brief end, I turn now to my normal operations of navel-gazing and better knowing stuff.  To that end, I look at Andrew Norwell in this third installment of the third edition of this now 19-part series titled Better Know A Buckeye.   Andrew, an offensive lineman (likely tackle) prospect from Anderson HS in Cincinnati, is the lone offensive lineman in this recruiting class bemoaned for its failure to secure Matt James, Morgan Moses and Seantrel Henderson down the stretch.  He is also recuperating from having lost most of his senior season to an ankle injury.  Nevertheless, for a lineman-light recruiting class, the Buckeyes managed to sign the best in state.  In this feature, I review Andrew’s brief recruitment and commitment.  I then proceed in regular fashion, discussing strengths, weaknesses, and miscellaneous things I think you should know before ultimately concluding that Andrew Norwell is better known.  I then use the usual graphic and put him on the board accordingly.

Height: 6’7
Weight: 275lbs
40: 5.3
High School: Anderson HS; Cincinnati, OH

His Recruitment: Andrew Norwell received early interest after his sophomore season, which saw the Anderson Redskins finish undefeated in conference, 13-2 overall, culminating a Division II state championship.  Therein, Andrew was one of the stand-outs.  He started every game for his state championship team and did not concede a single sack throughout the championship campaign.  Brian Kelly’s Cincinnati Bearcats gave a verbal offer almost immediately, a common tool Kelly used to help build his program and keep the local talent in Cincinnati.  Ohio State was interested as well, hosting Andrew at their advanced camp in order to get a better look¹.  He did not engage in any physical activities, but he was given a tour along with the other 2009 commitments that made the trip.  He left impressed and wanted to take another unofficial visit².  For the meantime, he was mostly noncommittal regarding favorites and a timetable.

This changed when Ohio State called the Norwell residence in the first week of November, 2008 to tell him that he was going to be receiving an official scholarship offer shortly.  The Anderson Redskins were in the thick of another Division II state championship run, so the mindful Tressel told Andrew not to worry about the offer, but to rest assured that he had one.  The offer naturally excited Andrew.  He always thought he was a Big Ten guy and was hearing from places like Iowa, Indiana and Illinois as well as Ohio State, and how had his second Big Ten offer (Indiana had offered a little bit earlier).  The offer instantly put Ohio State at the top of his list while simultaneously admitting that recruiting had to take a backseat to a state championship run³.

Not much happened after that.  Andrew acquired more offers from places like Duke, Stanford and Louisville.  Illinois actually offered, hoping that the lure of playing at the same school as his older brother would be enough.  However, Illinois was never really under consideration after Ohio State offered.  Notre Dame offered.  The offer was intriguing, but not enough to make Ohio State anything other than a runaway leader.  It was not long before, in early February, there were rumors that he was going to commit.

His Commitment: Andrew decided to quietly end the process on February 3rd.  Whether or not “quiet” was his intent, that was the effect it served.  He committed to Ohio State right as the members of the 2009 class were signing their names on their respective dotted lines.  Surprisingly little was written about they why behind the decision, but what has been said makes it clear that Andrew thought this was a fairly easy decision.

“I was an Illinois fan for a little bit because my brother (Chris) played there,” Norwell said. “But I’ve always been an Ohio State fan. I have to root for my state.

“I really like the coaches a lot. And I liked the atmosphere at the stadium. It was pretty sweet when the game starts.”

The commitment was the third in the 2010 class and, as we all know, the first and only offensive line commitment.

Where He Excels: Andrew was injured and out of action for most of his senior season, so keep that in mind for any film you see on him.  Nevertheless, a few things can be discerned.  Most people who know Andrew or have seen him play attest to his attitude.  It is probably necessary to put terms like “nasty streak” and “plays to the whistle” into context.  I always thought that offensive linemen are the most difficult to project from high school to college, but they are curiously rather safe picks in the transition from college to the pros⁴.  If pressed to give an explanation of this discrepancy, I would probably call attention to the nature of high school football.  Simply put: it’s not very good.  Anywhere.  Even the very good high school programs and teams have plenty of players with zero Division 1-A potential.  Thus, I think what happens to players like Connor Smith and Mike Adams — and have been confirmed anecdotally in things I’ve read — is that they retreat when it is no longer easy to impose themselves at will.  The potential is still there, but the reaction is one of bafflement when blocking becomes a challenge and when the defensive linemen are no longer 6’2 and 200lbs.  Surely, players with the capacity to become like Will Smith, Dwight Freeney and Jared Allen are not common commodities in the college game, but the quality of competition is much better all around, offensive linemen must select themselves into a strong and demanding commitment in order to be 1st/2nd round material and, ultimately, they become rather safe picks on the first day of the draft.

Thus, bringing it back to Andrew Norwell, one of his strengths is that he appears to be very serious about it.  His head coach sings his praises, calling him the best offensive lineman to ever come through the program in his 21 years as head coach.  Rather than talk about immediate playing time at Ohio State, Andrew instead talks about rebounding from his broken ankle, regaining strength in his legs, and going to Columbus to compete and make the next guy earn his.  His head coach also mentions that Andrew is always asking questions of his position coach at Anderson, asking about new techniques to learn, a minor thing in his technique that he can improve that would make him a better lineman for his team, and so on.  Everything I’ve read about Andrew suggests he has the necessary work ethic to get mired in the particulars, do the dirty work and ultimately realize his potential.  This, as much as raw talent (in my opinion), is crucial to become a good offensive lineman in college.

In terms of the physical tools, Andrew possesses that strong, lean frame that I like on offensive linemen.  He is much, much better as a run blocker at this point, contra Mike Adams who earned so much hype for what he was also able to do in pass protection as well (more on that later).  The pad level is very, very good.  He will get under almost anything and, as you hear Chris Spielman say during ESPN telecasts, the low man wins almost every time.  Watching Andrew’s film, it dawns on me that he really is underhyped and that he is likely the best offensive lineman in the state in his class.  Don’t get me wrong: Matt James is really good and should fit in nicely at Notre Dame, but Norwell is every bit as good and was lumped into the “all others” category with Andrew Donnal, Skyler Schoefner and Kevin Schloemer for the latter part of 2009.  What hurt him was an early commitment, the lack of any media hype during his senior season as an uncommitted prospect, and an ankle injury that cost him his senior season.  He was slated to play in the US Army All-American Bowl (the first Ohioan to commit to that game), but ultimately missed it.

Long story short: Norwell has all the potential to be really good.  I think he will be groomed for one of the tackle positions, but I honestly don’t know if it will be left or right.

Must Work On: Andrew must work on pass protection.  Then again, almost every offensive lineman needs to do this in the transition from high school to college because high school football is much more run-intensive across the board.  Andrew’s particular problem is that he is a little inflexible in his hip in his first step in pass protection and, the biggie, I usually see his target making the first contact.  Worse yet, he usually invites the defensive end into his body, losing some leverage and increasing the chance he gets beat.  This is not a fatal flaw, but, for now, it is just not optimal.  Correcting it will probably just be a matter of repetition.

Redshirt? Andrew swears he is 100 percent from his ankle injury, and I believe that.  Still, the offensive tackle position is set (mostly).  Adams and Miller will duke it out at left and Hall and Shugarts will sort out playing time at right tackle.  I am always susceptible to being flat wrong, but I don’t think Andrew will have an immediate impact on either position.  He should benefit from a redshirt year that will allow the coaching staff to figure out exactly where they think he will project in the future.

Highlights: Scouting Ohio, to the rescue.

Miscellany:

• After two Division II state championship appearances in 2007 and 2008, Anderson was bumped up to Division I after a review of their enrollment.
• Fellow offensive linemen Greg Mancz will play next year for the Toledo Rockets.
• Chris Norwell, Andrew’s aforementioned older brother who played for the Zookers, was diagnosed with a particular form of cancer: Burkitt’s Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  A fundraiser was created by the local high school to assist him.  He rebounded, was declared cancer-free in February 2009, and returned to football as an assistant coach at Thomas More College in northern Kentucky.  He no longer appears to be an assistant coach there and I do not know what he is doing now.
• During the course of his high school career, he was matched up against some important names in the college football recruiting landscape.  In particular, Anderson’s frequent run-ins with St. Francis De Sales (Columbus, OH) led to matchups against Chris Rock and Davon Custis.  Andrew’s Anderson team won the three matchups with De Sales in the two years they played, including a playoff victory in 2008.  However, it was the third encounter, early in 2009, that lead to Andrew’s season-ending injury.
• Andrew was selected to the US Army All-American Bowl, but was not able to participate due to his injury.
• In this Columbus Dispatch article, Andrew confirms what I kind of assumed in following his recruitment.  He just didn’t care for it.
• The Anderson Redskins managed to endure an early season-ending injury to their star offensive lineman and enjoy an undefeated regular season.  This even included a victory over Lakota West, whose only other loss was against Clayton Northmont in the first game of the season.  However, they were bounced by Elder to end the season.
• Andrew participated in a dodgeball league at his high school.  No word if any of their games were picked up and broadcast by The Ocho.  He also enjoys playing Call of Duty.
• Pre-compiled stats, courtesy of Bucknuts:

* Vital Statistics: Norwell suffered a broken leg in his team’s fourth game of his senior season and was lost for the year. Norwell helped lead Anderson to back-to-back state championship games in his sophomore and junior seasons. In 2007, Anderson posted a 13-2 record and a Division II state championship. Norwell started all 15 games and did not allow a sack the entire season as a sophomore. His brother Chris Norwell was a defensive lineman at Illinois and graduated in 2008. He was selected to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, but did not play due to the injury.

* Rankings: He is rated as the No. 2 overall senior prospect in Ohio, according to Ohio High magazine/JJHuddle.com. Also rated as the No. 2 overall prospect in the state, according to The Ohio Football Recruiting News. ESPN Scouts Inc. rates Norwell as the nation’s No. 13 offensive line prospect. SuperPrep considers Norwell as an All-American, ranking him as the eighth-best prospect in the Midwest and the nation’s No. 10 offensive lineman.

I’ll go ahead and consider Andrew Norwell better known.

It should be appropriate to put him on the board accordingly.

Class of 2010
Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?	Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?
Darryl Baldwin	DE	Solon, OH		James Louis	WR	Delray Beach, FL
Drew Basil	K	Chillicothe, OH		Scott McVey	LB	Cleveland, OH
Corey Brown 2010	ATH	Springfield, PA		JT Moore	DE	Youngstown, OH	02.15
Christian Bryant	DB	Cleveland, OH		Andrew Norwell	OL	Cincinnati, OH	03.29
David Durham	LB/DE	Charlotte, NC		Verlon Reed	ATH	Columbus, OH
Taylor Graham	QB	Wheaton, IL		Bradley Roby	DB	Suwanee, GA
Adam Griffin	ATH	Columbus, OH		Roderick Smith	RB	Fort Wayne, IN
Chad Hagan	LB/S	Canonsburg, PA		Jamel Turner	DE	Fork Union, VA	03.08
Johnathon Hankins	DT	Detroit, TSUN		Tyrone Williams	WR	Cleveland, OH
Carlos Hyde	RB	Naples, FL	06.29.09

1. Andrew also attended the 2008 Spring Game. [↩]
2. This was supposed to be the 2008 Michigan game, but that fell through as he focused on winning another state championship. [↩]
3. The 2008 season unfortunately (for Andrew) ended in a championship game loss to Sylvania Southview [↩]
4. I wish I could definitively cite this, but can only recall Mel Kiper Jr mentioning this on my television a few months back. [↩]