Sandra Norman knew there was going to be a problem as the ball hung in the air. Her sons were positioned at shortstop and second base when a popup headed toward Josh at second. Sandra wasn’t surprised when Marrio, the Little League shortstop, took off sprinting, jumped in front of his brother and made the catch.
“I already knew it was going to be a fight because they’re highly competitive and don’t want one to outdo the other,” Sandra said. “They were just trying to get that ball. They don’t care who’s over there.”
More than two decades later, the Norman brothers are living in the same city for the first time since college: Josh a star defensive back for Washington’s NFL team, and Marrio a star defensive back with Washington’s Arena Football League team. The competitiveness hasn’t waned; Josh is the second-highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, a reality television figure from “Dancing with the Stars” and one of the most popular members of the Redskins. Marrio, who signed during the offseason, is a former first-team all-AFL defensive back and the second-leading tackler for the Valor (3-2).
Having the two share a city is a fairy-tale scenario for the family. Josh, 31, and Marrio, 32, were the closest in age of the five Norman boys who played makeshift football games on the acre of land in front of their mobile home in Greenwood, S.C. Orlando, 35, and Marrio would play against Josh and Renaldo, 37. Phillip, 29, filled the role that youngest siblings have gotten stuck with for generations: all-time center. Games of throw-'em-up, bust-'em-up — basically a free-for-all version of street football — were the norm at the Norman household.
“Every man for themselves,” Marrio said. “We just grew up in a very competitive household. We love each other without a doubt, but at the end of the day we played a lot of sports. Me and Josh are 16 months apart; everything I did he wanted to do, and he wanted to do it better. I definitely think that I helped him take his game to another level. I’m pretty sure he would say the same.”
Said Sandra: “When they were in high school together and played ball, it was always a competition. Josh always looked up to Marrio, where he always felt like couldn’t nobody beat him but Marrio.”
Josh followed in Marrio’s footsteps when he signed with Coastal Carolina, where the older brother developed into a first-team all-Big South Conference talent and finished in the school’s top 10 in career interceptions. Josh surpassed Marrio, being named an all-American and becoming the third Coastal Carolina player to be drafted into the NFL. The only time the two played on the same team was in 2008, when Marrio was a senior and Josh a freshman. Josh’s opportunity to move into the rotation only came when Marrio fractured his fibula; the younger brother promptly recorded his first career interception.
The two even sound alike, with a Southern drawl interspersed with quick bursts of thoughts and with the nearly identical way they hammer home a point with a drawn-out “maaannn.”
Marrio has had several NFL tryouts over the years, including one with the Redskins in 2017, but he never stuck. With seven years in the AFL, he’s the Valor’s second-oldest player, and he’s starting to think about the future. He has plans to marry in March, and a baby is on the way. Marrio already owns a trucking company, Together Logistics, based in Atlanta, and he said he knows his playing days are winding down. Josh doesn’t think his big brother ever got a fair shot at the NFL.
“It just sucks that he wasn’t able to show all that up here,” Josh said. “I picked up on a lot of things [from him]. . . . I looked at him and took parts and pieces of his game and implemented them into mine.”
Marrio didn’t hesitate to take credit for Josh’s Pro Bowl career.
“Most definitely,” he said. “It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t.”
And there’s the verbal jousting that is never far away. Josh is well known by NFL fans for his gift of gab, and Sandra years ago gave up trying to rein him in. She called Marrio more of a thinker but said he gives as good as he gets when the brothers get warmed up.
“I’m definitely his biggest hater because I critique like a mug,” Josh said, “because I know I’m going to get it back. . . . We’re all that way with each other.”
Film sessions should be easier now that both live in the same city. Travel will be simpler for Sandra and the rest of the family when they come to watch games, and there’s plenty of room at Josh’s place, though Marrio acknowledged that family members tend to travel for NFL Sundays more than AFL Saturdays.
Sandra knows that, too, and is conscious about not playing favorites among any of the five boys. She’s just happy the siblings are as close as they are, emotionally and now geographically.
“Many times I’ve been to [visit] … and I’ll be shocked to see the other one,” Sandra said. “What are you doing here? . . . They went to Israel together. Y’all going to go to Israel before I go?! . . . They always do things together. Every year they’re doing something together because they have that love for one another.
“I’m just glad to see that. You know how siblings fall out and don’t talk to each other for years? It’s not like that with them.”
Read more: