Arizona State defensive lineman Zac Swanson made it clear he has a rooting interest in the first-round matchup in this year’s College Football Playoff between Texas and Clemson. 

Swanson will be rooting for Texas on Saturday for no other reason than to have the chance to exact revenge on New Year’s Day against the team that “kicked me out” and told him he’d “never be good enough to play there.” 

The defensive lineman transferred from Texas to ASU in May after he said the Longhorns coaching staff gave him a harsh assessment. 

The Sun Devils went 11-2 this year and won the Big 12 Championship game.

Swanson recorded 16 tackles, two tackles for loss, half a sack and a quarterback hurry this season for the Sun Devils. 

Now he wants to stick it to the team that didn’t have faith in him. 

“That’s a team that kicked me out and said I’d never be good enough to play there, so that’s something that been on my agenda for a while,” Swanson told reporters, according to 12News’ Jake Garcia. “It’s like a dream scenario, so I’m very excited about that.” 

Swanson went on to describe the comments that he was told by Texas coaches that resulted in him heading for the transfer portal. 

“Exactly what was said was, ‘If you want to stay at Texas you might as well quit football and just go to school here.’ So, a lot of motivation there for me,” he said. 

He called it the “worst thing” that had ever been said to him and that “it was just said so carelessly.” 

Ultimately, Swanson said things worked out the way that he hoped they would have since he decided to transfer to ASU. 

Swanson is an Arizona native and his Sun Devils earned a bye in the College Football Playoff to automatically put them in the quarterfinals. 

For Swanson to get his wish, Texas will have to defeat the Tigers at home in Austin.

North Texas remains the most populated region in the state with more than 8.3 million residents, due in part to staggering growth in Collin County, which added more than 145,000 residents in the last four years, as well as continued growth in Fort Worth, which appears to have surpassed Austin as the fourth most populous city in the state.

From 2020 to January 2024, North Texas has gained over 560,000 residents, according to new population estimates by the Texas Demographic Center (TDC). The population explosion is most notable in Collin, Tarrant, Denton, Rockwall, and Kaufman counties. According to the data, these counties lead the state in either numeric gains or percentage increases over the last four years.

Collin County added almost 145,000 residents in the last four years, the most significant increment in the state. The county now has 1.2 million residents, most of them in the cities of McKinney (about 220,000 people), Frisco (220,000 people) and Allen (110,000 people), as of January 2024. Denton County also saw considerable growth and gained more than 100,000 residents over the last four years, surpassing a million inhabitants.

Celina, a city in the counties of Denton and Collin, had over 43,000 residents, according to the January 2024 estimates. This city more than doubled its population from nearly 17,000 people in the 2020 Census.

“Well, I think a lot of that has to do with where we’re located,” elaborated Joe Monaco, Director of Marketing & Communications of Celina City.

“We have Preston on one side; we’ve got the Tollway expanding on the other side. We are 40 miles away from Dallas, and we’re really benefiting a lot from all the businesses that are coming into Dallas and especially the North Texas area.”

Originally from Ohio, Monaco said he lived in Mansfield and Frisco before settling in Prosper with his family during the pandemic.

“What attracted us is that we wanted to be in an area where our kids had great schools like all parents do,’ he said, “and we wanted to be in the area we felt very safe.”

Collin’s growth in the last years has been so rapid that it has already met one of the two scenarios of what this county’s population would be in 2030. The demographic center, in 2012, projected Collin to have 1.2 million people at the end of the decade in a scenario with half of the 2010-2020 migration rates. The second projection (assuming the 2010-2020 migration rates) estimates Collin to reach 1.3 million by the end of 2030, 1.6 million people by 2040, and 2.4 million by 2060.

Other examples of North Texas’ expansion are Kaufman and Rockwall, two neighboring Dallas counties, which experienced the highest percentage growth in population in the state. Kaufman’s population grew by 26.7%, or about 39,000 residents, from 2020 to 2024. Rockwall increased its population by 25% in the same period, growing the county by about 28,000 residents.

Tarrant, in turn, has gained more than 93,000 residents from 2020 to 2024, a 4.4% increase. Its total estimated population is 2.2 million, from 2.1 million last year. Fort Worth alone took in more than 70,000 new residents from 2020 to 2024, and its current population stands at almost 990,000 inhabitants. The newest figures by TDC suggest Fort Worth might have just surpassed Austin in population. The capital of Texas has about 987,000 inhabitants, according to the January 2024 estimates.

“Growth has been explosive,” said Jaime Resendiz, real estate agent and host of The DFW Homeowner, a YouTube channel exploring the housing market in the area. “There’s growth on the south side of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, but the North just blows it out of the water.”

“Anything that is North is just going to have high demand, and typically there, with the real estate prices, you’re seeing the appreciation in these areas just go through the roof,” Resendiz explained.

The Texas Demographic Center releases yearly population estimates that differ from those of the U.S. Census Bureau and use a different methodology. It projects population with a mix of national and local data, as well as state surveys on building permits and school enrollment.

“County-level birth and death data were obtained from the Texas Department of State Health Services,” the methodology report reads.

In the last four years, 90 Texas counties have decreased their population, but none of them are in the North Texas area. Dallas County is among the counties with some of the lowest increments from 2020 to 2024, since it gained only 0.6% in this period. This translates to over 16,000 new residents, and the population remains at 2.6 million, with minimal change over the last four years. The metro area of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington now has over 8.1 million residents after crossing the 8 million mark last year.

CLEMSON — Clemson football released its depth chart Monday ahead of its first-round CFP game vs. Texas.

The most notable changes involve the removal of key players who are injured or entered the transfer portal. Backup running back Jay Haynes was removed after suffering a leg injury in the ACC championship against SMU on Dec. 7. Running backs Keith Adams Jr., Jarvis Green and David Eziomume are listed as the No. 2 running back behind Phil Mafah.

Wide receiver Adam Randall also replaced Haynes as the starting kick returner. Clemson’s depth chart removed nickelback Sherrod Covil Jr. and wide receiver Noble Johnson too. Both were backups who entered the transfer portal.

The No. 12 seed Tigers (10-3) will face the No. 5 seed Longhorns (11-2) on Dec. 21 (4 p.m. ET, TNT) in Austin, Texas, at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. The winner advances to play No. 4 seed Arizona State, the Big 12 champion, in the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 1 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Here’s Clemson’s full depth chart before it faces Texas on Saturday:

Clemson football’s offense

QB: Cade Klubnik | Christopher Vizzina

RB: Phil Mafah | Keith Adams Jr. or Jarvis Green or David Eziomume

WR: Antonio Williams | Tyler Brown | Misun Kelley

WR: T.J. Moore | Cole Turner

WR: Bryant Wesco Jr. or Adam Randall | Cole Turner | Hampton Earle

TE: Jake Briningstool | Olsen Patt-Henry | Josh Sapp | Markus Dixon

LT: Tristan Leigh | Mason Wade

LG: Marcus Tate | Harris Sewell

C: Ryan Linthicum | Harris Sewell

RG: Walker Parks | Harris Sewell

RT: Blake Miller | Mason Wade

TRANSFER PORTAL: Clemson hosting Purdue transfer, per report. Does that signal change for Dabo Swinney?

Clemson football’s defense

DE: Jahiem Lawson | A.J. Hoffler

DT: Payton Page | DeMonte Capehart | Vic Burley

DT: Peter Woods | Tré Williams | Stephiylan Green

DE: T.J. Parker | Cade Denhoff

SLB: Wade Woodaz | Jamal Anderson

MLB: Wade Woodaz | Sammy Brown or Dee Crayton

WLB: Barrett Carter | Sammy Brown or Dee Crayton

CB: Avieon Terrell | Ashton Hampton | Corian Gipson

SS: Kylon Griffin or Tyler Venables | Ricardo Jones

FS: R.J. Mickens | Tyler Venables | Rob Billings

NB: Khalil Barnes | Shelton Lewis

CB: Jeadyn Lukus or Ashton Hampton | Branden Strozier

Clemson football’s special teams

PK: Nolan Hauser | Robert Gunn III

P: Aidan Swanson | Jack Smith

KO: Robert Gunn III

LS (PK): Holden Caspersen

LS (P): Philip Florenzo

H: Clay Swinney

KR: Adam Randall

PR: Antonio Williams

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00