Somewhere among the piles of game films State College High School basketball coach Drew Frank has accumulated in his 12 years is one he occasionally views.

The film is of the 2003 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AAAA state championship game at Hershey's Giant Center.

State College 76, Chester 71.

Cue the celebration.

The Little Lions are in the tunnel headed to the locker room when Jordan Norwood, State College's water bug point guard, takes five steps on the side of the wall.

Yes, on the side of the wall.

Frank still talks to Norwood monthly, if not more frequently, and has come to calling Norwood "wall-walker."

"It's not quite water," Frank said, "but it was darn close."

Frank swears it's true, and he has the video to prove it.

"It almost looked like something out of the matrix," Frank said. "Did we just see what we just saw? Jordan's acting like, 'Hey, anybody can do this kind of thing.' We just laugh about it. We do have it on tape, or otherwise I still wouldn't believe it."

Norwood overcoming a lack of belief, it seems, has been a recurring theme throughout the Penn State wide receiver's career.

The Little Lion

Norwood was sitting in the guidance counselor's office one afternoon. This wasn't atypical. Sometimes, Norwood would make small talk with State College's special needs students.

Other times, he would chit-chat with his high school football coach, Dave Lintal, who doubled as Norwood's guidance counselor.

This time, he was talking to Karen Wolanski, a secretary in the guidance counselor office. Norwood was nearing the end of his senior year, and Wolanski was curious which sport the basketball and football standout chose to pursue.

"He goes football," Wolanski said. "I go, 'Oh my God, you're going to get crushed. If looks could kill, he would have killed me."

His abilities in the two sports gave Norwood options.

Frank called Norwood's court vision the best he has ever coached.

When Norwood first joined the team as a sophomore, he stepped into the starting lineup and would dart passes to unsuspecting teammates.

Those teammates soon learned to keep their hands up, even if Norwood's eyes were looking in a spot across the court.

"When he first got here, he was truly bouncing balls off players because we did not have a player before that that was able to deliver and anticipate the ball the way Jordan could," Frank said.

Norwood worked in tandem with his brother, Gabe, who went on to play for the George Mason team that made a run to the Final Four. Gabe Norwood was the top pick last season in the Phillipines' top league.

"I loved to play basketball and would have liked to play," Jordan Norwood said. "If I had an opportunity to play Division I basketball, I probably would have taken that opportunity over football."

Division I basketball offers were sparse for Norwood. Bucknell offered an opportunity to play basketball but first wanted Norwood as a receiver.

No other Division I basketball coach came calling, Frank said, because Norwood didn't fit the profile of a college point guard being between 6 feet and 6 feet, 4 inches.

Brian Norwood thought his son would initially choose basketball.

"I think they truly missed out," Frank said. "There's no doubt in my mind he would have been as successful on the basketball court as he is on the football field."

Success on the football field, to be sure, has been plentiful. State College advanced to the PIAA Class AAAA state semifinals when Norwood was a senior.

Norwood battled injuries and finished with 21 receptions, but Lintal called his contributions unmistakable.

"The thing that really stands out to me with Jordan is on the practice field," Lintal said. "Watching Jordan catch the ball, he would catch balls and make the most phenomenal catches. He's picking balls up off the ground, tapping it up and catching it, diving. The son of a gun would always come up with a ball. Five plays later, he'd make even a more spectacular catch."

The spiritualist

Penn State is facing a third and seven early in the second quarter when Daryll Clark looks toward Norwood.

Norwood tips the pass up in the air, batting it back and forth to himself much like a volleyball player lobbying to himself, before catching it and gliding between two Michigan defensive backs.

Racing through Norwood's mind is Verse 4, Chapter 56 from the Book of Psalms: In God, I will praise His word. In God, I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

"That's what's running through my head if I have to go through the middle across the football field," Norwood said.

Norwood attends Calvary Baptist Church, the same church where other teammates like Gerald Cadogan, Josh Gaines, Larry Federoff and Stefen Wisniewski attend services.

"Faith and my relationship with God is what drives me and keeps me going," Norwood said. "It's where I'm getting my praise and succeeding from."

Norwood's faith is also what Frank credits for changing his perspective on life. When Norwood spotted Frank as he came out of gym after basketball practice, he would stop and chat.

What kind of day are you having, coach? Are you all right?

Frank said Norwood encouraged him to win for the right reasons: the value of relationships.

"He truly has been a difference maker in my life," Frank said. "If I would say that to Jordan, he'd probably be embarrassed by that."

The Nittany Lion

Norwood won a Big Ten and Orange Bowl championship his freshman year, was part of two teams that won a bowl game his sophomore and junior year and starts as a senior for a team ranked No. 3 in the country.

Penn State has a real shot at playing in Jan. 8 for the Bowl Championship Series national championship game.

Norwood almost missed it all.

"There was a time when, to be quite frank, I wasn't going to go to college," Norwood said. "I wasn't sure if college was right for me in general. Academically, I was always a good student. Socially and things like that, I wasn't looking forward to college, let's put it that way."

Those close to Norwood almost always use 'quiet' to describe his personality.

Wisniewski said he's never heard Norwood speak in the huddle.

Frank said the only time he heard Norwood speak much was if he and Gabe were bickering in practice over Gabe Norwood not getting the ball enough.

Craig Butler, State College's principal, called Norwood "sociable when he needed to be."

Norwood bounced around in his childhood from state to state as his father took coaching jobs. He lived in Maryland, West Virginia and Texas before settling in State College his sophomore year of high school. Brian Norwood thought part of the reason for choosing Penn State was not wanting to uproot himself again.

"I think some of it is Jordan is a homebody in a sense," said Brian Norwood, who is in his first year as Baylor's defensive coordinator after working as Penn State's safeties coach since 2000. "He's a family guy. He had a lot of friends going to Penn State and had an opportunity there."

An opportunity that was almost missed.

What would Norwood have done post high school if he had not gone to college?

"I don't know," he said, laughing. "That's why I came to college."