South Carolina Football: Former Gamecock star signs deal with XFL team

DJ Swearinger is one of the best safeties to wear a South Carolina football uniform. #36 was an elite tackler and one of the hardest hitters the SEC has ever seen. Swearinger’s infectious personality also forced others to play with the same high motor and higher confidence level that he played with during his Gamecock career. His mentality became the entire defense’s mentality.

After an All-SEC senior season, the Greenwood High School alum heard his name called in the NFL Draft. The Houston Texas selected Swearinger in the second round, and he went on to a nine-year NFL career with the Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals, Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, New Orleans Saints, and Indianapolis Colts.

Earlier this week, Swearinger signed a deal to continue his football career. The DC Defenders (the top team in the XFL with a 6-1 record) have brought Swearinger back to Washington DC where he had his best NFL success. Swearinger is expected to provide some safety depth for the team.

During his Gamecock career, Swearinger logged 244 tackles, 4 forced fumbles, 6 interceptions, and 16 pass breakups, all good for top-10 ranks among Gamecock safeties.

He is also responsible for some of the most iconic moments in South Carolina football history. Just from his senior season of 2012, there are these gems:

There was this massive hit on Clemson’s Andre Ellington and the often-photographed flex that followed,

There was this legendary moment where he broke up a pass during pregame warmups earlier that same day against Clemson, setting the tone for the rest of the night,

And there was this ridiculous 30-second stretch of game action against Arkansas in which he was responsible for a horse collar 15-yard penalty, a helmet-to-helmet hit (this was pre-targeting, folks) 15-yard penalty, a pick-six, and an unsportsmanlike 15-yard penalty for throwing the ball into the crowd after the score.