Norman North loses second D-I prospect

By Justin Harper
jharper@oklahoman.com
Norman North will still get Tyler Tettleton back for his senior season in 2008, but it definitely didn’t help the Timberwolves to lose a Division I-A caliber quarterback. Tettleton tore his ACL in preseason practice, though, so North went into the season knowing the situation. And North has managed pretty well obviously (6-1 overall, 4-0 in District 6A-1). However, North lost another big-time athlete recently when outside linebacker/tight end/punter Michael Ford was dismissed from the team for violating team policy.
Ford, who transferred to North from Norman after last season, wasn’t as valuable to North as running back Beau Blankenship or defensive lineman Nathan Badger. He didn’t have as many tackles as Beau Traber or Jon Johnson. Andre Cheatham and Chika Madu may mean more to the team as well, but it’s hard to say. Regardless, it never helps to lose an athlete as talented as Ford, who starts at three positions.
To give you an idea of what kind of athlete Ford is, he was North’s starting tight end even though the T-Wolves have KJ Williams, who is committed to Texas A&M at that position. And North coach Lance Manning said in two-a-days that Ford may be the best all-around athlete on the team.
Nevertheless, the T-Wolves have cultivated enough talent to overcome the loss of bigtime players. They’re a few plays from being unbeaten overall and are unblemished in district play after Thursday’s 24-21 win over Mustang.