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Brock's Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile: 'Unblockable' Texas DT
Adding a player on the offensive and defensive line is often referred to as “beefing up” said unit, and there’s very few that would beef up the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive line more than Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat.
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The 22-year-old Sweat measures in a 6 foot 4 and 366 pounds and helped anchor a stout Longhorns defensive front alongside fellow standout Byron Murphy. Sweat won the Outland Trophy, which is given to college football’s best interior offensive and defensive lineman, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and was an Associated Press first-team All-America pick last season. He helped lead Texas to a berth in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
He was also the subject of former NFL quarterback and FOX college football analyst Brock Huard’s Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile on Wednesday. Huard received an up-close look at Sweat when he called two of Texas’ games for FOX.
“In both of those games, both offensive coordinators, Nate Scheelhaase for Iowa State (and) Marcus Tuiasosopo at Rice, said point blank that you have to have a plan (for Sweat),” Huard said. “You can’t just go in and run your stuff. You’ve got to account for this guy in every single one of your run snaps and just saying, ‘well, we’ll double team him.’ That’s not good enough. Sometimes you have to triple team to just move him off of his spot and, boy, he was an immovable force.”
Huard pointed out that Sweat isn’t just a big body that eats up space. He puts up stats. Sweat registered 45 tackles, eight tackles for loss, two sacks and four pass deflections during his award-winning senior campaign. He’s also displayed durability in playing 62 games during his five-season college career.
“He posts,” Huard said. “… He’s not a big man that finds a way to not play. He plays game in and game out. The biggest challenge is playing play in and play out once you get beyond about four (plays). He’ll give you a four really good ones and then at 366 (pounds), he’s got to huff and puff his way off the field, get a little bit oxygen and get back on the field.”
Huard projected Sweat as a third-round pick with the potential to go late in the second round. He said the snap-count limitations are a factor in why Sweat likely won’t go higher. He also noted Sweat being viewed more as specialist against the run, but that he seemed to improve that aspect of his game last season.
“He showed this year that he’s got a little more wiggle, a little more movement, a little more endurance,” Huard said.
Sweat’s draft stock could also be hurt by his April 7 arrest for driving under the influence in Austin, Texas.
“If there is a team that would be the perfect fit to grow a guy that’s got a little immaturity in his decision making and grow the guy in his work ethic and perseverance and endurance,” Huard said, “Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed would be a pretty good group to sandwich that guy with to really grow, develop and get the very, very most out of him. He would be a pretty good fit here.”
Listen to Brock Huard’s full Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile on Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat at this link or watch the video at the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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