Last year, as Ryan Swope emerged as the most dependable Texas A&M receiver, many of his teammates began comparing him favorably to Patriots star Wes Welker, who in eight NFL seasons has been voted to four Pro Bowls.
The floppy-haired Swope, who led A&M with 89 catches for 1,207 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, was tremendously flattered by the comparisons to Welker.
“To be compared to one of the greatest receivers in the game today is a great honor,” Swope said. “He’s a hustler and is all over the field. He really gets down and dirty. I love the way he plays, and I try to be a lot like him.”
What Swope didn’t initially realize is that Welker was an “Aggie killer” before becoming an NFL star. For many A&M fans, the mere mention of Welker’s name still causes eyes to roll regrettably.
Perhaps only stomach acid generated more heartburn at Kyle Field than Welker, the former Texas Tech star who caught 259 passes, including 21 for touchdowns, with the Red Raiders from 2000-03. Most of those scores came against the Aggies. Or so it seemed.
Ironically, the quarterback at Tech who first helped turn Welker into a star was Kliff Kingsbury, who is now Swope’s offensive coordinator at A&M. And as good as Swope has been recently — he’s made 161 catches the last two seasons — the senior could be even better in Kingsbury’s prolific spread attack.
“This offense is a lot of fun,” Swope said during spring practices. “It’s an up-tempo, fast-paced style, and I’m really excited about playing a big role in what we do in the passing game.”
There’s little doubt that Swope will be a favorite target for new quarterback Jameill Showers. After all, Showers has been around the A&M program long enough to know that Swope is Mr. Dependable in the passing game. But pass-catching productivity is just part of Swope’s value to the Aggies.
While he’s not a rah-rah type of leader, he leads by example. Swope plays receiver with a safety’s mentality, hurdling defenders and hurling his body recklessly toward first-down markers and goal lines.
He’s as sleek as a sports car but as ruggedly tough as a half-ton pickup. He can go long or across the middle with equal productivity. He can juke defenders out of their shoes or take a ferocious hit and hang onto the football … just like Welker.