Sweazie Keeps Stone Bridge-To-JMU Pact Strong
There’s a strong pipeline forming between Stone Bridge (Ashburn) High School and James Madison University.
The prep power in Northern Virginia has had at least one player in each of the last two recruiting classes sign with the Dukes. And offensive lineman Carter Sweazie, who committed late last month as a pledge in the 2022 class, is in line – assuming he signs – to make it three straight recruiting classes in which JMU has landed a member of the Bulldogs.
“I come from a school at Stone Bridge, where there is a winning culture and football to the community is everything,” Sweazie said Monday. “And a lot of [colleges] I visited, the football, it wasn’t nearly as big as it is to JMU. It really has a big-football feel and with the winning culture, I couldn’t go wrong with it.”
Sweazie, a 6-foot-2½, 305-pounder likely to play either guard or center for the Dukes, noted the reassurance about JMU from his buddies only helped him through the recruiting process. He chose the Dukes from a group of three finalists, which also included in-state foe Richmond and FBS Florida International.
Since JMU coach Curt Cignetti and his staff arrived, they signed defensive end Mikail Kamara in the 2020 class and linebacker Skylar Martin as a member of the 2021 cycle. They also picked up verbal commitments from offensive linemen Brett Davis (2021 class) and Sweazie in the current cycle.
Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan is the lead recruiter on Sweazie, just like he was on Kamara and Martin.
“Mikail, Skylar and Brett, they all had nothing but good things to say about it,” Sweazie said. “Mikail loves it, and Brett and I are really close.”
He said he learned a lot from the three former Stone Bridge standouts and can’t wait to reunite with them in Harrisonburg this time next year. This past spring, Sweazie, Martin and Davis were each named first-team All-Region 5C selections while Kamara tallied 16 tackles and three sacks in his debut season with the Dukes.
“Me and Skylar, we battled a lot last year in practice,” Sweazie said. “But against Mikail, I was only a sophomore when I went up against him in practice, and so he took it to me a couple of times.”
Sweazie needed only a few days after earning the offer from JMU before deciding to commit, he said. The offer came on the heels of his performance at a one-day prospect camp where he was able to talk with Shanahan and Dukes offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski.
“I took a lot of reps,” Sweazie said with a laugh. “It got to the point where Wrobo had to shut me down and was like, ‘We’ve seen enough.’ I took a lot of reps and I really made sure of it.”
For Sweazie, the offer was the one he was waiting on.
His dad, Charles Sweazie, is a JMU alum and fan, so the younger Sweazie grew up going to games at Bridgeforth Stadium. And Sweazie said it was during the most recent trip as a fan for a game in 2018, that he realized he one day might be able to play for the Dukes.
“So, I knew if I got that offer, that it would be awesome,” he said. “And then when I got it, I knew I was ready to commit.”
Sweazie, to this point, is the only offensive lineman in the class, which also includes a quarterback, a wide receiver, a punter and two defensive linemen.