Oklahoma's Tre Norwood, a 'heady' and versatile DB, put a lot of thought into his NFL decision

Coming off an injury, Norwood's production in 2020 made him a hot commodity in the upcoming NFL Draft

Of all the Oklahoma players who declared early for the 2021 NFL Draft, none was more surprising than Tre Norwood.

Everyone, even senior Rhamondre Stevenson, had the option of coming back. Some, like fourth-year junior Creed Humphrey, had the option of leaving last year. Some, like junior Adrian Ealy, were unexpected but understandable.

Norwood’s decision to turn pro early, though, caught pretty much everyone by surprise.

Norwood is not quite two years removed from a knee injury, and he started only five games — three at strong safety, two at nickel back — late in the 2020 season. NFL teams surely want to see a larger body of work from a player who can contribute at so many positions.

Tre Norwood :: Ty Russell / OU Athletics

Then again, Norwood struck while the iron was hot. His star in college may never shine brighter than it did last season, when he ranked third in the nation with five interceptions — and had picks in three of the Sooners’ last four games.

“For me, going into my decision, the biggest thing is I graduated, got my degree at the end of 2020,” Norwood said Friday after his Pro Day performance. “So I knew I wouldn’t have to have any school priorities preparing for this.

“And coming into the season, my mindset was not on leaving. My mindset was on doing what’s best for the team and winning a championship. And then throughout the season, I knew — actually, I knew going into the season as well that if I met my individual goals, that would go into my decision.”

Tre Norwood :: Ty Russell / OU Athletics

Norwood, at 5-foot-11 5/8 and 192 pounds, ran his 40 in 4.58, had a 10-3 broad jump, and recorded a 33 1/2-inch vertical. His feet seemed to slip on both of his cone drills (4.5 in the short shuttle, 7.68 in the 3-cone), and he only recorded 12 reps on the bench press.

But Norwood’s true football strength lies between his ears. The fourth-year junior from Fort Smith excels at the nuances of the game. That’s why he was a starter at cornerback, strong safety and nickel during his 39 games at OU.

“I think ‘very interesting’ is a great way to put it,” coach Lincoln Riley said. “You talk about a guy that’s played all the different secondary positions for us, obviously started at corner and then moved over into that safety and nickel role this year. I think the scouts are very impressed with his versatility.”

Said Norwood, “I feel like that’s one of the things that separates me from a lot of guys, being that I’m not one dimensional. I’m a guy that can line up at outside corner, I can line up at slot corner, strong safety, free safety, anywhere on the back end. And not just line up, but I can play any one of those positions at a high level.”

Interceptions are a rare thing in contemporary college football. That Norwood had two at Texas Tech and then swiped three in the final month of the season speaks to how he thinks through the pre-snap formation, how he anticipates routes, how he reads the quarterback. Other than touchdowns, no other single element of football decides the outcome of more games than turnovers, and Norwood’s cerebral approach to the game might give him an edge on the next level over someone who runs like the wind but has no idea what’s about to happen.

Tre Norwood :: Ty Russell / OU Athletics

“I’m a heady guy, outstanding IQ for the game, just the feel for the game that I have — I feel that separates me,” Norwood said. “Just my versatility, I feel like that is gonna play a big part being that I can be at any position, any sub package, any down. I feel like that’s gonna benefit me a lot.”

Norwood played in 28 games before a knee injury on the first day of 2019 training camp took his whole junior season. His recovery was slow and challenging, but by the end of the 2020 season, he was obviously over it.

“I think everybody is excited to see as he continues to get further and further away from the knee injury,” Riley said, “and we all saw that this year that as he continued to get more healthy and more confident, get his feet back underneath him and get used to being back on the field, he played better and better.”

Norwood said his goal for last season was to help turn around the narrative that Oklahoma’s defense was incapable of getting takeaways. Five games into the season, OU ranked 48th nationally with just six takeaways. The Sooners finished the season ranked 19th with 19.

Tre Norwood :: Ty Russell / OU Athletics

Achieving that, he said, helped him make the decision that it was a good time to leave Oklahoma.

“The biggest thing was I wanted us to be more productive in the turnover margin as a defense — as a whole, most importantly, but for myself as well,” Norwood said. “And tying that into the tape that I already had from the 2017 and 2018 season, I felt like that was a big help and another reason why I decided to prepare for the NFL and go through this process.”

“Tre,” said Riley, “is one of those guys that is just pretty good at everything. I think he did a good job at the Senior Bowl. He’s had a nice performance out here today (at Pro Day). And especially his versatility is going to be intriguing to a lot of different teams.”