ROCKINGHAM — Just an opportunity. That’s all Alex Norton wanted.
While college recruiters were scouting fellow Richmond Raider teammates, like Tyrone Crowder and Devant’e Covington, Norton was hoping one of them would steal a glance his way.
They have.
Norton is beginning to receive interest from a number of Division I schools, including Auburn, Clemson, East Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina and Wake Forest. The junior lineman has scholarships offers from Air Force and Navy as well as UNC Charlotte and Coastal Carolina.
“I wasn’t getting too many looks,” Norton said. “Not a lot of schools knew who I was. The scouts would come and want to look at film on Tyrone and Coach (Hoggard) would talk to them about me.”
Even though Norton hasn’t locked down an offer from one of the big schools yet, he expects those will start rolling in after he attends several camps this summer. He hopes to join Dakwa Nichols (N.C. State) and Covington (South Carolina) in selecting a school by August or narrow his choices like Crowder is expected to do.
“I’m going to wait until after the camps to see what happens,” Norton said. “I don’t want to take too long to decide and have others start committing and taking a spot away from me. Right now, my doors are open for anybody.”
Recently, Norton had another opportunity to turn recruiters heads at the invite-only Shrine Bowl tryout last weekend at West Forsyth. Norton was one of five Raiders selected to participate in the event. Norton was joined Covington, Crowder, Nichols and Robert Williams.
Norton, who played left guard for Richmond last season, worked with the centers. Shrine Bowl rules prohibit more than two players from one school being selected to the team. Garner coach Nelson Smith is expected to announce the North Carolina roster in October.
“I wasn’t too surprised that I got that far or any of the other Richmond players,” Norton said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m picked or not because I will be happy for any of my teammates that get selected to the team. But I would love to play in it.”
— Sports editor Shawn Stinson can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 14, or by email at sstinson@heartlandpublications.com
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