Arizona DT Bill Norton commits to Texas
Texas made a major splash in the transfer portal with the addition of former Arizona Wildcat and Georgia Bulldog defensive tackle Bill Norton, who chose the Longhorns after visiting Austin for the Orange-White game.
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Norton has one year to play. He will be using the season of eligibility relief provided by the NCAA in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A product of Memphis (Tenn.) Christian Brothers, Norton tallied 32 tackles with 2.5 for loss plus three passes defended and a forced fumble for Arizona last year. He transferred to Tucson from Georgia, where he recorded 13 tackles and 3.5 TFL.
Norton recorded a Pro Football Focus defensive grade of 70.6 during the 2023 season.
Norton is the ninth transfer to join the Longhorns joining Tiaoalii Savea, Amari Niblack, Kendrick Blackshire, Silas Bolden, Isaiah Bond, Trey Moore, Andrew Mukuba, and Matthew Golden.
How he fits at Texas:
Bill Norton has the pedigree of exactly the sort of defensive tackle Texas wants in their 2-4-5 scheme. He was originally recruited by Georgia out of high school and ended up serving as a nose tackle for Johnny Nansen at Arizona. Nansen typically had the 6-foot-6, 325 pound Norton using his size, length, and five years of accumulated strength and technique as a nose tackle. The Wildcats played a lot of 3-down fronts with Norton over the center, playing a gap-and-a-half technique akin to what Kenny Baker is looking to teach the Longhorn D-linemen. He could play either 3-technique or nose for Texas and be an anchoring two-gapper in either role, nose tackle seems most likely since he has the mass and technique to absorb double teams more easily than anyone currently on the Texas roster. – Ian Boyd
Coach Says:
Strengths — Tall with good mass. Surprisingly wide frame with a lower center of gravity. Generally good feet. Hip bend and flexibility look above average. Strong at the point of attack and plays with great anchoring against contact. Impressive against Washington’s great OL. Looks pretty hard to move backwards. Willingly takes on the double-team. Active hands and fights for his gap. Position flexibility with nose, 3-tech, and edge play depending on the situation. Squares up consistently one the runner and never really seems out of the play. Regular social media series shows him to have a pretty charismatic personality. Good hustle plays. Isn’t going to show up in the stat sheet as much as some others, but will do all the dirty work required.
Areas for improvement — Seems to lose leverage a bit easily moving sideways. Would like to see him try to split the double rather than absorb it (although this may just be the scheme coaching point). Does not seem particularly quick off the snap. Want to see a little more repertoire with the hands. Change of direction is about average and his straight line foot speed is likely a little slower than we have been accustomed to recently.
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