10 Things You Didn't Know About Jack Swagger
8. He Really Was An All-American
Swagger loved to brag about how he was an All-American athlete while matriculating at the University of Oklahoma - but, unlike most pro-wrestling bravado, it was all true.
Swagger's impressive high school credentials saw him recruited to OU, and he continued with both football and wrestling when he got to the school. He was a second-string defensive tackle for the Sooners, behind future Chicago Bears Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek. By his sophomore year, however, he decided to quit football in order to focus solely on wrestling.
It was a smart decision.
Though Swagger failed to place in the 2005 NCAA championships, in 2006, he was a senior, and he ended up coming in seventh place in the prestigious tournament. When the season ended - a season in which Swagger set an OU record with 30 pinfall victories - he was named an All-American, one of the highest honors a collegiate athlete can receive.