D'Andre Swift is coming home. His St. Joe's Prep coach screamed in excitement
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- D'Andre Swift is coming home. During a busy NFL draft weekend, the Philadelphia Eagles traded for the St. Joe's Prep product from the Detroit Lions, adding yet another Georgia Bulldog.
Swift grew up in Philadelphia and became a Philly high school football legend starring at Prep, winning three state championships.
In his senior season for the Hawks, Swift ran for 1,564 yards and scored 25 touchdowns.
The running back was a four-star recruit who released a Rocky-themed commitment video set to Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares," which became an Eagles anthem during their 2018 Super Bowl.
St. Joe's Prep high coach Tim Roken joined CBS News Philadelphia on Monday morning to discuss Swift's homecoming.
"I screamed in the other room and my fiancé came running out and thought something was run," Roken said. "It was just a scream of excitement to hear the news come through that one of our former players is not only going to come back home and play for a city that he grew up in and loved the Eagles but also be able to team up with one of his former teammates here, Olamide Zaccheaus, who just got signed here as well."
Roken was the offensive coordinator when Swift was at St. Joe's Prep and has since taken over as head coach.
Swift "made my job a lot easier," Roken said.
"He's just an unbelievable young man," Roken said. "A young man that just made my job easier, but he made me better as well just because he wanted to be coached. The work ethic and the things he did off the field when nobody was watching was what separates him when he's on the field on Friday and Saturday and now on Sunday."
The Eagles drafted three Bulldogs during this past weekend's NFL draft, including Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith in the first round.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman wasn't done there.
Roseman traded up to select Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo in the fourth round.
Carter, Smith and Ringo join Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean as Georgia players drafted by the Eagles in the past two years.
"Certainly, I know the jokes about Georgia, they're coming, and maybe they have been there," Roseman told reporters Saturday, "but for us, it's about the individual players, and if we were going to bypass a player just because we had taken another player from that school, I mean, that would be silly, too."
Swift also played at Georgia, leaving after his junior season in 2019.
The Lions drafted Swift with the 35th overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft.
In three seasons in Detroit, Swift ran for 1,680 yards and 18 TDs. The dual-threat RB also caught 156 balls for nearly 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns.
Last season, Swift had 931 yards from scrimmage with eight touchdowns.
The Birds saw firsthand what Swift could do last season.
Swift gashed the Eagles for 144 yards on the ground and an additional 31 receiving with a touchdown in Week 1.
"You can definitely see his ability to make people miss in space, and you saw that against our defense last year," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters Saturday. "He had some unbelievable runs against us last year, where you look at each other like man, that guy is hard to tackle."
Swift joins Kenny Gainwell, free agent signing Rashaad Penny and Boston Scott in the Eagles' backfield.
