'He makes big people look small': T'Vondre Sweat is a Texas-sized star - ESPN

YOU CAN'T MISS T'Vondre Sweat. It's not just that he's 6-foot-4 and 362 pounds, although it has something to do with that.

But then you add the chain. It has a dinner-plate sized, diamond-encrusted medallion that says «MAKE 'EM SWEAT.» He doesn't know how much it weighs, only that it sometimes hurts his neck.

«He's about 380 with that big chain on,» said Jay Oliphant, Sweat's high school basketball coach.

Sweat loves the chain, which is inspired by the giant clocks Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav wears. It's big, it's flashy.

It was also his mom's idea.

That makes sense because if you talk to anybody who knows Sweat, the first thing they'll tell you is that he's a mama's boy.

«You get out there and make 'em sweat,» Lashunda Ross, his mom, said of the inspiration for the medallion. «They're nervous when they see you. They always have two people double-teaming you.»

The medallion has a second side, though. One that people rarely see. And that was all Sweat's work. The back is covered with photos of his mom, his great uncle, his grandmother and great-grandmother.

This is the duality of T'Vondre Sweat, the wrecking ball who is the physical embodiment of Texas' climb to its first College Football Playoff appearance. The goofy, fun-loving mama's boy is also the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and weeks ago claimed Texas' first Outland Trophy, given to the best interior lineman in the country, since 1977.

He'll play a key role for the Longhorns on Monday when No. 3 Texas faces No. 2 Washington in the College Football Playoff at the Allstate Sugar Bowl (8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App) with the Longhorns looking to free up defenders to slow down the Huskies' dangerous passing attack.

«He is hard to move,» Texas defensive