Swearingen stepping up for Pointers

Devin Swearingen has seen the fruits of his labor pay off quickly. Swearingen was in on 17 tackles, including 13 solo, with four for loss and two sacks. He also forced a fumble and recovered two fumbles. That isn’t through three nonconference games, that was just in the first game of the season against Siloam Springs when he had a lot of fun to start off his senior season. “It definitely was, not just for me but for the whole defense,” Swearingen said. “It showed me I was ready to play and put in the work like coach said. It’s the little things.” Crosby Tuck has said all along after taking over as head coach of the Van Buren Pointers in April that he was going to lean on the seniors this year. He also knew he had a special one in Swearingen. “As a senior, he gives you everything from an effort standpoint, leadership and production,” Tuck said. “He does all of those things really well. There are only so many people that are able to do all three. There are guys that give great effort. There are guys that give great production. There are guys that are natural leaders. When you have all three of them, that’s a special deal. That’s something that Devin has.” Defensive coordinator Moe Henry also saw it quickly from his senior linebacker. “The main thing with him is his work ethic,” Henry said. “He comes to practice every single day. You never wonder what he’s going to bring; he’s going to go hard and is always where he’s supposed to be when he’s supposed to be there. He’s definitely been a great guy to have on our team and that you want to make plays at the linebacker spot.” For three games, Swearingen has 25 solo tackles, with seven for lost yardage. He recovered another fumble against Alma on a kickoff. Swearingen led the Pointes in tackles last year, too, so his play was going to be important for the Pointers this season. “Coming off a season where he was our leading tackler, we knew he was an anchor over there for us,” Tuck said. “What he brings to the table, the production that he’s able to have is huge for us. He’s one of our main guys over there.” His play, along with the rest of the linebackers and the defense as a whole, will be challenged in a big way on Friday when Van Buren hosts Rogers and the top air attack in the 7A-West for the conference opener. “Since they like to throw the football so much, I’ll have to put pressure on the quarterback,” Swearingen said. “We have to force him into some bad throws, and hopefully that will help out the secondary.” Rogers quarterback Hunter Loyd put up gigantic numbers through three nonconference games. He’s thrown for 1,110 yards and 12 touchdowns. “Linebackers are huge,” Henry said. “When you have an offense that wants to pass the ball a lot against teams that are blitzing, some of the outs that the quarterbacks may have are their check downs to the running backs or crossing routes underneath are things that quarterbacks use as their security blankets. When you have linebackers that can understand that and make a run and read it and take away check downs and crosses that’s when the linebackers become a huge part of the passing defense.” Swearingen’s leadership off the field, though, has been just as big as his play on Friday night will be for the Pointers. “They’ve been putting up some points,” Tuck said. “What they’ve done offensively is awesome. It’s going to be important to the game on Friday, but equally, if not more, important is helping us in how we prepare for them. To have a guy that can lead the way he does. We’ve had a conversation about how important that is in practice this week to be a real leader out there. The way he handles that and the way he gets guys going around him may be even more important than production-wise on Friday night.”

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SWEARINGEN STEPPING UP FOR POINTERS

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 9/27/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Mitchell