North Carolina State University Athletics
Senior Spotlight: DE Art Norman
11/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
RALEIGH, N.C. - The scene: The Carrier Dome, Nov. 1, 2014. Less than a minute remains in the fourth quarter. Syracuse trails NC State but has the ball. It’s third down from the 24.
The Scenario: Defensive end Art Norman knows it will be a passing play. Because it is late in the game, he’s started picking up on some of the opponent’s calls. He determines it’s going to be a slide protection, putting him one-on-one with the tackle, who he’s been beating for much of the game. Because of that, he knows the tackle will overset, leaving the inside gap open. The ball is snapped and the quarterback drops back five yards. Norman breaks free through the b-gap and advances on the QB’s blind side.
The results: He squares up, keeps his feet moving and nails the quarterback for the sack that will move him to third place in NC State career history. It’s a clean shot. The type of play that a defensive end lives for. The type of play that can change the momentum of an entire game.
It’s almost like .... solving a math problem?!?
Art Norman may be one of the toughest guys ever to play the game of football at NC State University. Heading into the final regular season games of his career, he ranks third in Wolfpack history in career sacks. His name is listed among such legends as Mario Williams, Carl Reeves and Manny Lawson when it comes to flattening the opposing quarterback.
But a lot more goes into the equation that equals Art Norman than just being a tough football player.
“It sounds so nerdy, but getting a big sack and solving a tough math problem give me the same feeling,” says the postgraduate student who earned his degree last year in mathematics. “In math, you might try to solve a problem a couple of times and each time you get closer and closer and finally you get it. It’s like finally getting through to that quarterback.”
If anyone has actually called Norman a nerd, they haven’t done it to his face. Although he isn’t the biggest defensive end around at 6’0, 254 pounds, he doesn’t look like someone who would appreciate being messed with. But his love and proficiency for mathematics belies the typical persona of a college football player.
“I was really good in high school in math,” says Norman, who graduated in December of 2014 with a degree in mathematics. “I tutored and was always like one or two levels ahead of everybody else. All my other classes were regular but my math was advanced. I could sit and do math all day. I get math. And if there is an equation I don’t get, I don’t mind spending my day on it.”
Norman says that his affinity for numbers is “not like OCD, but kinda sorta like OCD.” He can tell you there are 17 steps in his house. Six steps in front of his house. “I count a lot of things,” he says with a laugh. “I’m sure a lot of d-ends do this, but in football I always look at quarterbacks and see how far they drop back and how they step up so I can angle my pass rush.”
One number that Norman does have a hard time understanding is his rank on that career sacks list, and the fact that he has a chance to break the record held by Williams - the only No. 1 NFL draft pick in ACC history. “It’s just crazy. I still can’t really believe it. Because ... it’s MARIO. I know he did his in three years, but just to think that my name could even be close to his is crazy.”
When Norman first arrived in Raleigh, being among the all-time elite Wolfpack defenders never crossed his mind. “I actually thought that NC State messed up by offering me a scholarship,” he says. “I didn’t have any D-1 offers and everybody said ‘he’s too short.’ In my mind, I was just going to get a scholarship and be on the team but not play.
“My freshman year I thought, “I don’t do anything wrong, so even though I’m not that good, they will keep me on the team because they can’t kick me off.’ Then after I redshirted, I started to realize that maybe I do belong on this level.”
Norman is shocked to hear that he has played over 2,000 snaps from scrimmage during his career at NC State, but when he reflects on his collegiate career, he easily identifies what has helped him progress and grow as a player. “My freshman year, I was just out there playing. Tell me what to do and where to go and I would do it. Now I’m more football smart. I not only try to learn my responsibilities, but those of the people next to me so I can help out and make sure everybody is where they are supposed to be on defense. I watch a lot of film.”
With 33 career tackles for loss, 23.5 career sacks and 65 QB pressures, Norman has certainly become known as a disruptor.
“I think it’s my motor that makes me that way,” he says. “I’m determined and my feet don’t stop. For offensive linemen, that’s hard to block.”
He also has decided that his height - once considered a detriment - is an advantage. ““I get under lineman. I’m naturally under linemen because I’m only six feet tall.”
Norman’s talent comes naturally, as he definitely hails from a football family. His father, Warren, Sr., played at VCU and his older brother, Warren, Jr. played running back at Vanderbilt. When the Wolfpack faced the Commodores in the 2012 Music City Bowl, his mother Esther had a special shirt made with “VandyPack” on one side and “Wolfbilt” on the other.
“I didn’t want to play football at first because that was already my brother’s thing,” says the competitive younger Norman. “But my Dad wanted me to try it. Then when I started playing, I wanted to stick to defense so that would be my thing.”
Norman hopes that he has years of football left to play, as he has grown to love the game that his father had to talk him into playing over a decade ago. But when football ends, whenever it ends, he plans to pursue his other love: mathematics.
“I would love to be a math teacher and coach football,” he says. “Or maybe work in insurance. Those actuary tables are really interesting to me.”
