T’Vondre Sweat was a dominant defensive force for the Texas Longhorns in 2023.
The 366-pound defensive tackle recorded 45 tackles, eight tackles for loss, two sacks, and four PBUs in 2023. That helped him become the 38th overall pick in the NFL Draft to the Tennessee Titans. It also helped him earn recognition as a First-team AP All-American, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, First-team All-Big 12 Conference, and the Outland Trophy Winner.
The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football interior lineman on either offense or defense. And if we look at the defensive players who have won the award in the past, Sweat is in some elite company with NFL greats.
In the last 15 years, the only defensive players to win the Outland Tropht are Ndamukong Suh (2009), Aaron Donald (2013), Ed Oliver (2017), Quinnen Williams (2018), and Jordan Davis (2021).
That’s two future Hall of Famers, two of the top interior defenders in the NFL today, and an exciting young player with a lot of potential.
Ultimately, I think people are underestimating just how good Sweat was at Texas last year. As we just examined, defensive players don’t win the Outland trophy very often, and when they do, it’s probably a good indicator that they are going to be a really good NFL player as well.
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