Commitment Analysis: 2022 DT Jalen Swindell joins Wake Forest

On Thursday evening, Wake Forest landed their 4th commit of the 2022 Class in Jalen Swindell over offers from the likes of Louisville, Duke, and ECU.

Swindell picked up Most Outstanding Defensive player during Vance High School’s State Championship win this spring, while racking up 42 tackles, 27 TFLs, and 4 sacks throughout the year. Currently rated as a mid 3-Star with an 85 rating according to 247Sports.com, he slots in as the 2nd highest rated commit so far for Wake Forest.

One thing that sticks out to me is his ability to move already at 290 pounds. A lot of times guys in high school are on one side of the coin or another: either they need to bulk up/grow into their frame and end up losing a bit of their speed when adding the weight, or they’re already around the weight they need to be and it’s not good weight so they have to not only worry about getting too big in high school, but getting good weight on their body so their game isn’t just being big.

Swindell does a very good job of clogging gaps when asked, as well as shedding his main blocker and getting into the backfield. It’s also impressive how he just swallows people up when he gets his arms on him, won’t see a lot of missed tackles out of him.

Similar to the Kevin Pointer transfer addition, grabbing Swindell is to help ensure they can go 3 deep at DT and ensure there are playable guys no matter the number of injuries. Swindell seems like the type of player that can really make an impact by his second year on campus, granted he stays healthy.

When I said June was going to be bonkers, well consider this, Swindell committed roughly 2 hours after his visit ended.

Welcome to Winston, Jalen!