Texas Longhorns College Football Pregame Quote, 12/30/2023

Q. How do you feel about going up against Michael Penix?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: Honestly, I don’t feel no way. I mean, to me, they ain’t nothing special. They could be a great opponent, but it’s going to be a great opportunity for a great group of guys like us to go against, I guess, a great quarterback, they say. So we’ll see.

Q. How are you guys feeling going into this game? What’s your level of confidence with how you’ve been playing the last couple of games especially?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: Our confidence is very high. We’re a great team. That’s a great team we’re playing against. So we’re very confident. I can’t wait just to go out there Monday and show who we really is.

Q. You guys have a lot of players from the Houston area specifically. Can you talk about how much growing up in that Houston area football culture helped shape your career thus far?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: Yeah, we do have a lot of guys from the Houston area. Houston always brings out great athletes. You know what I’m saying? I’m from Huntsville, but I also grew up in Houston.

And I mean, Houston is just Houston. You know? And I mean you can’t get no better than that, having Texas guys coming from Texas. You know? And I feel like it don’t shock me or amaze me because Houston has all the best athletes.

Q. I think 2018 was the last time maybe that you had played at NRG Stadium in the playoffs with Huntsville High School. Obviously, you guys have to take care of business here first, but what would it mean to have the potential to play again at NRG Stadium for a national championship?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: It would be awesome because I believe, yeah, when I played at NRG, I don’t think I lost at NRG. I don’t think I lost at NRG. It would be awesome, but just playing would be awesome too. We’re not really worried about the natty right now. We’ve got a game in front of us in New Orleans. So once we handle that, we’ll worry about the next.

Q. Speaking about your individual match-up as a defensive lineman, Washington has a good offensive line. How much are you looking forward to that match-up? And is there anything in particular that you know about them that you want to focus on as you go into this game?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: I’m really not too focused on them. I mean, yeah, they won that award, I guess, but that don’t fear me. All that’s saying is we fear them more? We don’t fear them. We’re going to come out there and play our best ball.

And yeah, they’re a great group of guys. But I mean, y’all should know who we is. You know what I’m saying? I feel like we proved ourselves. So at this point, we’re just going to go play our ballgame against a great group of guys, and we’ll see the outcome.

Q. Is there anything you’re looking forward to personally for the game or anything like that, any sort of just goals that you have for yourself or for the team? Obviously, winning the game is the ultimate goal, so to speak, but anything that you want to contribute personally?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: I just want to go out there and win. I know what we’re going to do when we show up Monday. So we’re going to all see how that plays out, and we’ll find out.

Q. That ’19 group, there was a lot of hype on that class. You go through a coaching change, you go through a bunch of stuff.

T’VONDRE SWEAT: It was a lot of hype. Life, you know, college life. Life happens, and I think people should realize that we’re all just regular human beings and we go through stuff like everybody else goes through stuff, you know. And our life is not just perfect because we play for the University of Texas. You know what I mean?

So life happens and we’ve got some guys that did; some guys that didn’t. You know?

Q. When you get to this kind of point and the success you’ve had this year, can you appreciate your own maturation that you’ve had over the course of your time here?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: 100%, but I give all hand claps to Coach Bo [Davis]. He taught me a lot over the past three years that I had him, and I will say he changed my life. He don’t like me to tell them, but I would say he changed my life, a lot of ways of me doing things. You know what I mean?

Q. You mean like professionalism?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: Professional, just maturity, all of that. You know what I’m saying? And helping me grow up as a man.

Q. You wanted to talk about your supporting staff, the secondary, the linebackers yesterday. Just talk about them and what they mean to your success, the D-line’s success?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: I mean, it means a lot. We all play together. So they need us; we need them. You know what I mean? And we’re all on the same page. You can’t be a better defense, you know what I mean? And when we’re on the page, they’re on the page. And when they’re on the page, we’re on the page. It’s all a team thing.

Q. What’s one of the things you all have been able to do to prepare for this big moment?

T’VONDRE SWEAT: I mean, we’ve been preparing for weeks now. We’re coming into this game ready to play and just focus on the main topic, and that’s winning. And our coach has prepared us to the teeth. And you know how we prepare at the University of Texas. It ain’t easy. You know what I mean? We prepare hard. We practice hard every day.

So I feel like we prepare well and we can’t wait for Monday to come.