From Humble Beginnings To The Spotlight, Still Damian Swann
November 26, 2014 | Football
By Anne Noland
Behind the number five stitched solidly across his jersey, underneath the helmet and shoulder pads, far from the lights and the fame, there is Damian Swann.
He's an athlete, sure. He plays football for the University of Georgia. He's a leader, a captain and an anchor on the defense. He's a spokesperson to the media on frequent occasion and a teacher for the young players on the team.
But that's not who he really is.
"Sports is what I do, but it's not who I am," he says. "Damian Swann is a young guy from Atlanta who was able to find something that he was good at and make the best of it."
Swann has a story, and it's powerful, but not for reasons that one might think. He didn't grow up having a dream of playing college ball or getting drafted in the NFL, nor did he realize he had obstacles to overcome to get there. Where Swann comes from, people don't even imagine what it's like to make it.
In his words, Swann is "just a kid from the streets." All he knew growing up was that he wanted a different life than what he saw around him. How to make that happen? He wasn't sure. But he knew one thing: how to play football.
Marlon Swann suited his son up for his first football game at the meager age of four. In addition to football, his father had Swann playing baseball and basketball and served as his coach for most of his childhood. His mother, Mona Simpson, found a way to get her son everything he needed to participate. Young Damian didn't know then that a dirty pigskin would one day become his saving grace, his chance to make something of himself.
"I come from a kind of rough background. I've got older brothers that taught me things, that taught me what not to do. I've seen a lot of things growing up," Swann says. "But my dad was fortunate enough to keep me in sports and keep me away from that because that's not a life I want to live. That's not a life I want anybody else to live."
And so from field to court to field he went, day in and day out, never stopping long enough to imagine what his future might hold. While any other teenage boy with Swann's stats - 800 receiving yards, 12 touchdowns, 30 tackles and four interceptions in his junior season of high school - would be thinking about life at the next level, he was just going to football practice.
"I was just a kid from the streets of Atlanta, so our dreams weren't really that big," he says.
But eventually, Swann realized he might have a chance to play Division I college football. No one in his family had ever been to college, so the idea of a "dream school" was nonexistent. After being highly recruited and visiting campuses, Swann settled on Georgia so that his parents could easily come watch him play.
"When you get into the program, it kind of grows on you," he says. "I knew I made the right decision to come here when I stepped on campus. Just the feeling of being home - that's like a dream."
For four years, Swann has proudly worn the "G." To him, it's a letter that represents more than a university or an SEC football team. The "G" signifies opportunity and future. And now, as his senior year comes to a close, the "G" also represents memories.
"It's all the different experiences - the good ones, the bad ones - and just being able to put together a chapter in my life that I'll be able to explain to a thousand people, that I'll be able to tell stories about," he says. "Being able to make those memories with so many people that I've enjoyed being around for the last four years is unbelievable."
On Saturday, Swann and 26 other players will run out of the tunnel and into Sanford Stadium for the last time. It will be Senior Day as No. 8 Georgia faces instate rival and 16th-ranked Georgia Tech, and it will be a "bittersweet" moment for Swann.
"When you first get here, you never think that it could go so fast," he says. "If you think about the time that has gone by, you think about it as a blur. But eventually it's going to end. You've just got to be ready when it does."
And he is ready. Yes, he will openly admit that if he could have another four years in red and black, he would accept them in a heartbeat. But Swann has a future now, and he's ready to take it.
When his career at Georgia is finished, Swann will begin training for the NFL draft. It's another dream he didn't have as a kid, not because he didn't want it but because he could not have imagined it. Now the NFL is firmly in his sights, and he is ready for his future, one that would not have been possible without the University of Georgia.
"I'm confident. I think I'm ready to take that next step in life," Swann says. "Football was never guaranteed. Getting into the NFL is never guaranteed. But I think I've done what I needed to do to at least get an opportunity, and that's all I could ask for. Just to say that I had the opportunity will be a blessing."
Anne Noland is a senior from Marietta, Ga., who is majoring in public relations. She is in her fourth year as a student assistant with the UGA Sports Communications office.
"Coming Attractions" is a weekly feature published on georgiadogs.com spotlighting a UGA student-athlete who will be competing in a key home event during the upcoming weekend. Previous stories include:
August 28 - David Andrews (football vs. Clemson) September 4 - Carly Hamilton (cross country in Bulldog Invitational)
September 11 - Tirah Leau (volleyball in Benson Hospitality Invitational)
September 18 - Mariel Gutierrez (soccer vs. Vanderbilt)
September 25 - Toby Johnson (football vs. Tennessee)
October 2 - Emma Sonnett (soccer vs. Tennessee)
October 9 - Jared Markham (swimming & diving vs. Alabama)
October 16 - Gaby Smiley (volleyball vs. Kentucky and Tennessee)
October 23 - Bella Hartley (soccer vs. Kentucky)
October 30 - Olivia Ball & Ian Forlini (swimming & diving vs. Florida)
November 6 - Megan Spencer (volleyball vs. Arkansas)
November 13 - Kolton Houston (football vs. Auburn)
November 20 - Yante Maten (men's basketball vs. Troy & FAU)
