As a senior linebacker at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans, Swilling reportedly had football scholarship offers from Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Auburn, Miami (Fla.), Virginia Tech and Oregon.

“There were also a million smaller-school offers,” said Swilling, who chose instead to play college basketball. He started his career at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia before transferring to a junior college (the College of Southern Idaho) and then to TU before the start of the 2012-13 season. He appeared in 46 games for the Hurricane. In a sixth-man role, he averaged 8.6 points per game during the 2013-14 season.

“When I would look at the TU basketball team, I always noticed that Pat had the type of body that would transition to football,” Blankenship said. “So far, he’s just been getting out there in the slot and catching a few passes and getting back in the groove.

“Our quarterbacks say that he looks really good, running around and catching the ball. The quarterbacks tell me that he looks pretty smooth. He’s been very faithful to come to our meetings and doing what he’s supposed to do, and I know that he was a really good high school football player.”