Arizona State University defensive lineman Zach Swanson has revealed that he has a strong interest in the first-round matchup between Texas and Clemson in this year's College Football Playoff.
Swanson will be rooting for Texas on Saturday just for the chance to get revenge against the team that “kicked me out” on New Year's Day and told him “I'm not good enough to play there.”
The defensive lineman transferred from Texas to ASU in May, saying he received harsh evaluations from the Longhorns' coaching staff.
This year, the Sun Devils went 11-2 and won the Big 12 Championship Game.
Swanson had 16 tackles, two tackles for loss, a half-sack and a quarterback rush for the Sun Devils this season.
Now he wants to stick with that to a team that didn't believe in him.
“That team got rid of me and said I wasn't going to be good enough to play there, so that was on my agenda for a while,” Swanson told reporters, per Jake Garcia of 12News. “I’m really looking forward to it because it’s a dream-like scenario.”
Swanson went on to explain that comments made by the Texas coach led him to head into the transfer portal.
“What they just said was, 'If you want to stay at Texas, you should quit football and go to school here.' So there was a lot of motivation for me there,” he said. said.
He called it “the worst thing” he had ever said to him and “it was just said to me so carelessly.”
Ultimately, Swanson said things have gone the way he wanted since he decided to transfer to ASU.
Swanson is from Arizona State, and his Sun Devils earned a bye in the College Football Playoff, automatically advancing to the quarterfinals.
To make Swanson's wish come true, Texas needs to beat the Tigers at home in Austin.
