STARKVILLE — By December of 2016, Montez Sweat had more or less given up on a reunion.
He was through his lone season at Copiah-Lincoln Community College and finally on his way to Mississippi State, a commitment he made months ago. A couple of hours north, Chauncey Rivers, as Sweat describes it, “was toying with everybody.” Sweat thought Rivers was going to go to Alabama.
At the deadline, Rivers surprised him by committing to MSU. With that decision, childhood friends and high school teammates were reunited once more.
Sweat and Rivers are two of MSU’s most disrupting defensive ends: Sweat is second in the Southeastern Conference in sacks and Rivers is tied for fourth in tackles for a loss on one of the nation’s best defenses despite playing directly behind Sweat. No. 21 MSU (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference, No. 18 College Football Playoff) has greatly benefitted from the two, but it is far from alone: Rivers and Sweat have been making life hard on opponents going all the way back to grade school.
We’ve been playing ball since we were 8 years old,” Rivers said. “We’ve been playing together our entire lives.”
For one reason or another, now is the first time they’ve been on the same defensive line together.
In the youth ball days, Sweat remembers Rivers being forced to the lines by youth league weight limits — effectively designed to keep athletes like Rivers from running all over the league, as Sweat said Rivers was still athletic enough to play on the perimeter at his size. Sweat was playing on the outside while Rivers was dominating the line of scrimmage.
They briefly parted ways, as Rivers started his high school career at Tucker High School in Tucker, Georgia, DeKalb County rivals with Sweat’s Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain. Rivers joined him in time for Sweat’s senior season, Rivers’ junior season. They won a playoff game together — in a different configuration.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but Chauncey started over me in high school,” Sweat said. “Defensive end wasn’t necessarily my primary position in high school, I played both ways.”
At Stephenson, Sweat was mostly used as a tight end offensively. Before you get your hopes up: Sweat says the prospect of playing tight end at MSU is only something that’s joked about right now, but Sweat said he may make a pitch to Moorhead near the end of the season to give it a shot.
From Stephenson, the two went their separate ways: Sweat to Michigan State and Rivers to Georgia. Both ended up in Mississippi after their first college stops went awry, Sweat finding a home at Co-Lin and Rivers landing at East Mississippi Community College. The thought of coming together at their next four-year school wasn’t on their mind; Sweat was wondering if they would end up at the same junior college.
While that didn’t work out, they are now living a dream and doing so together, in a fashion neither of them could have predicted.
Now Rivers has a front-row seat to watch a lifelong friend work his way up the draft boards, likely to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft this spring.
“It’s exciting, because I know what he’s capable of,” Rivers said. “Everyday, we go push each other. It’s great to see things paying off. For him to play the role he’s playing and have the success he’s having, it’s great to see him balling out.
“That’s the crazy part. To be at a D-1 school, these are dreams from when we were young. It’s crazy how it all played out. It’s a great thing.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.