Longhorns Country

'Have Fun': T'Vondre Sweat 'Cracks A Joke Or Two' To Keep Longhorns Loose

This season, the No. 11 Texas Longhorns have a chance to have some fun on the field, but defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat is leading the playfulness off it.

Casey Smith

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A little over a week ago, the Texas Longhorns were having fun with a day on the lake.

The football program's social media team put together a video of various players diving off a dock and doing backflips into the lake, paddleboarding, swimming in a pool and sitting on a raft. One player you didn't see in the water: defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat.

"I don't like the water really, but I like to go to the lake," Sweat said. "I like to be on the water, but I don't get in the water."

Sweat said days like when the Longhorns are on the lake together because they get to bond over something that isn't "football, football, football, training, training, training" while getting to be "big kids." Sweat said he personally takes his mind off of football by playing "NBA 2K" using his favorite player who he is disappointed to not have met yet: former Longhorn Kevin Durant.

Sweat, whose nickname "Loaf" is short for meatloaf, has assumed the team jokester role that former Texas defensive lineman Keondre Coburn held during his time in Austin. He does so because he said he likes to see people smile.

"I just feel like we're always so uptight, and I also got to crack a joke or two just to loosen us up and just have fun with it," Sweat said. 

What does defensive line coach Bo Davis, who is very serious during practice, think about Sweat's comedic approach?

"He loves it," Sweat said. "He's cracking jokes. He's the one who tells us to just have fun, just be ourselves and that's what we do."

Even before a game when most players are in the zone in the locker room, Sweat will go around and loosen them up. However, the reason he returned for his senior season is no laughing matter.

"I want to win a natty," Sweat said. "I want to win a Big 12."

He and the No. 11 Longhorns are looking to erase the history of Texas football infamously falling on its face when given high expectations. If the Longhorns can do just that, they'll certainly be having fun.

You can follow Casey Smith on Twitter @casey_smith2419

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Casey Smith
CASEY SMITH

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