Penn State wideout Jordan Norwood sat in his seat at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis last April watching his older brother Gabe play in the Final Four for the George Mason men's basketball team, and thought of what could be.

"I was excited for my brother, but at the same time, it made me miss basketball," Norwood said.

As a junior at State College High School in 2003, the slightly built point guard helped the school win its first PIAA large school state championship.

Norwood was offered a walk-on tryout by Penn State basketball coach Ed DeChellis following his senior year of high school. With a football scholarship also available, Norwood declined.

But after trying out for the basketball team last week, Norwood is now a two-sport athlete.

Since deciding to play football, Norwood, listed at 5-foot-10 and 168 pounds, kept in contact with Penn State assistant basketball coach Kurt Kanaskie about the possibility of joining the team.

In the week following the Outback Bowl, Norwood called the Penn State basketball staff expressing an interest to revive his basketball career after fulfilling Joe Paterno's requirement that he keep up his grades.

Norwood then met with DeChellis last Sunday, practiced with the team for the first time Monday and officially was on the basketball roster this past Thursday.

"It's something I always wanted to do," Norwood said. "Last season, I didn't get things started as far as getting on the team soon enough, so I just decided to wait until this season."

In the few practices he has participated in, Norwood has mimicked the quick, athletic guards from opposing Big Ten teams as a member of the scout team, and DeChellis said that is what to expect from the sophomore in the near future.

Before trying out at the Bryce Jordan Center last week, the last time Norwood played was last summer.

"It would be foolish to put expectations on Jordan that he's going to come in and play minutes," DeChellis said last week.

After catching 77 passes for 894 yards in two seasons on the football team, a bench role is something Norwood is not used to, he admits, but he is eager to provide whatever DeChellis asks of him in practice. Although he did not play in Saturday's game against Indiana, his teammates have been impressed with Norwood in practice, so far.

"I'm glad he's here," sophomore forward Jamelle Cornley said. "He's going to really help our guards from an athletic standpoint because he's very versatile. He's picking up things very quick which is good, especially since he hasn't played serious basketball in three years."

Norwood is glad his teammates are accepting, otherwise "something he always wanted to do" may have never happened.

"They're all welcoming and that's a big part of it," Norwood said. "It's their team. If they didn't want have me be a part of then I probably wouldn't have done it."

So what about when the football and basketball seasons overlap next fall? Football will still have top priority, Norwood said.

"I thought about it a little bit. I'm just taking it day-by-day right now," he said. "I guess in between our last game next year, hopefully bowl game, I'll try to get in the gym. I can't practice with the [basketball] team or anything, but just get in the gym and work on some skills, so I'm ready to go."