He played college football for the Mississippi State Bulldogs and is the school's second all-time leading rusher.

While at Brandon High he recorded 92 career touchdowns to rank fourth all-time on the state career-scoring list and accounted for more than 8,000 all-purpose yards.

Norwood was also named Mississippi's Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior as he rushed for 2,878 yards and scored 32 touchdowns.

As a three-year starter, at Mississippi State, he rushed for over 100 yards on 13 occasions, surpassing the previous school record of 12 set by Walter Packer and James Johnson.

He also started 29 of 46 games, setting a school record with 3,222 career rushing yards on 573 carries (5.6 avg.)

In 2002, Norwood was named to the Knoxville News Sentinel Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team as a kick returner.

As a senior in 2005, Norwood won the Conerly Award, which is given to the top college player in the state of Mississippi, after leading the team rushing with 191 carries for 1,136 yards (5.9 avg.)

[3] In 2006, Norwood played in 14 games and ranked third on the team with 633 rushing yards on 99 carries (6.4 avg.)

Norwood was the first player in NFL history to have his first two career touchdown runs each go 70+ yards.

[citation needed] His 78-yard touchdown run against Arizona in Week 4 marked the second longest in Falcons history behind running back Warrick Dunn's 90-yard touchdown carry the following week against the New York Giants.

In week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals, Norwood ran for 106 rushing yards on six carries (17.7 avg.

He finished sixth among all rookie running backs with 633 rushing yards on 99 carries and his 6.4 average yards per carry ranked second highest in the NFL, topped only by teammate QB Michael Vick (8.4 avg.).

In a week nine win over the San Francisco 49ers, Norwood ran the ball six times for 39 yards.

[4] On Wednesday August 14, 2013, Norwood was signed to the practice roster of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League[5] He drew his first CFL start in a September 21 game against the Calgary Stampeders rushing for 68 yards on 10 carries and catching 4 passes for 67 yards.