T’Vondre Sweat is ready for a breakout season, and that’s no joke
There is nothing subtle about Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. He is a mountain of a man, the kind that can make his own shade he’s so big.
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But there’s more than meets the eye with Sweat. Yes, the fifth-year senior is 6-foot-4 and weighs 362 (!) pounds and made a bushelful of plays last year in a breakout campaign in which he started in nine games. Sweat racked up a career best 30 tackles (10 of them solo), 2.5 stops for loss, seven quarterback hurries and four pass breakups.
Sweat also has a playful side, and he’s taken up the mantle as the defensive line’s jokester. When he says something funny, his fellow players laugh a lot, and they better.
“I’m just like ‘why we always be so uptight?’” he said Wednesday. “I gotta crack a joke or two just to loosen us up and just have fun with it. I gotta keep the room a little loose.”
The Longhorns’ defensive line – especially in the interior – is a position of depth this season with Byron Murphy and Alfred Collins, plus the addition of Minnesota transfer Trill Carter and younger players making excellent impressions in the preseason camp.
Having numbers at the position allows Sweat and his teammates to go really hard for 25 plays apiece instead of trying to ration that effort for 40 or more snaps.
“(Defensive line coach Bo) Davis rotates us a lot and it keeps us fresh,” Sweat explained. “Whether it’s 25 plays or 40, it really doesn’t matter to me. My mindset I was gonna be just go, go, go and be the best I can be when I’m on the field.”
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Sweat said there was a noticed improvement from the team from the first to its second scrimmage, which is to be expected as the players get more repetitions and get more familiar playing alongside each other.
“The D-line improved on just being ‘us,’ playing hard and having fun and just getting off the ball like we’ve been taught,” Sweat said. “Overall as a team I feel like we’re pretty good. It was a great scrimmage — we did our thing, the offense did its thing and overall I feel like we know we’re gonna be a great team.
“That probably was my best scrimmage of Fall camp,” Sweat added. “I mean, I’m just ready. Honestly, I can’t wait for the season.”
Sweat knows that the play of the defensive line is a key to the team’s success.
“Our primary job is to win up front,” he said. “You can’t do nothing in football without the front seven. I feel like it starts with us, and that’s our biggest thing as a D-line, as a group. We’ve got to set the tone.”
