Jayson Swain
Football
A natural progression, it often seems, from the playing field and into the media business. For Jayson Swain, first exposed to the inner workings of Tennessee Volunteers’ football as a high school freshman, talking about the Vols for a living makes perfect sense.
Swain, an All-State receiver at Grissom High, played four seasons for Tennessee, earning the role of captain his senior year. Nearly two decades removed from his last game in orange, he is still seventh in all-time in receptions for the Vols and 15th in receiving yards for a career. At Tennessee, Swain was named to the All-SEC Freshman team and had 126 receptions for 1,721 yards and 10 touchdowns for his career, despite being nagged incessantly by injuries.
He signed a free agent contract with the Chicago Bears in 2007 and after participating in preseason camp “felt like I had a great chance,” he said at the time. “But my heart wasn’t in it.” He returned to Knoxville to finish his degree, and settled there, married to Shante, and with children Ariana, Audrey and Adrienne.
Being a VFL – Vol For Life – with such a playing resume made Swain a logical guest for sports talk shows in Knoxville, of which there has been no shortage through the years. “Somebody called me and wanted me to be on their show, and the next thing you know, I was offered my own radio show because I was pretty honest and blunt,” Swain recalls.
He was working then as a caseworker for a non-profit and juggled that along with his new radio gig at a small station. He gambled on himself in 2014 when the station went under, going independent by buying his own equipment, buying the air time and selling ads to cover the cost. In 2022, the station that bills itself “The Sports Animal” came calling, and Swain now co-hosts a three-hour syndicated daily afternoon block with Josh Ward and also serves on the Volunteer Radio Network’s football broadcasts.
Swain was born in Illinois, but moved to Huntsville as a tot to live with his uncle, Rheuben Cummings. He was a devout man of God, a servant leader, involved in many church-related roles. Every time the church doors opened, Rheuben was there, with Jayson in tow. And every time gym doors or a gate to a stadium opened, Rheuben was there to support Jayson.
“My uncle just played that role of dad and mom, really,” Jayson says. “He was tough on me, but he gave me love I needed to and believed in me and carried me to every sporting event, every game and practice.” Cummings, who died last July at age 96, “was everything to me,” Jayson says.
Swain played three seasons of basketball at Grissom, but sat out his senior year after a football injury. By then, it had become evident that football was the prudent path. He was the first freshman ever named 6A All-State. His sophomore year, also the second year at Grissom for head coach Ronnie Massey, he was a major factor in the Tigers’ run to the state semifinals. He was again All-State, alongside 2023 Hall of Fame inductee Jon Sumrall, and among the state’s Super 12, with his 96 catches for 1,270 yards and 17 TDs. Swain followed with 40 more catches and 600 yards as a junior, then 52 catches for 743 and seven TDs as a senior. He was named by USA Today as second-team All-America as a senior and lived near the top of all the recruiting rankings. He was the fourth-best receiver in the nation according to ESPN rankings, No. 7 by Rivals.com. He was 21st among all prospects according to Prep Football Report. All that earned him an invitation to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, where he caught two touchdown passes and was named MVP.
Though dead-set on going to Michigan, Swain took an official visit to Knoxville a few years after a less official visit.
After his freshman year at Grissom, Coach Massey told Swain, “Hey, let’s go to some camps.” They went to Knoxville and “the coaches there were like, ‘Who is this kid?’ Because everybody’s usually a sophomore or a junior, and they have a data base (of prospects). They didn’t know I was just a freshman.”
Soon enough, everybody in Tennessee Vols’ football knew who the kid was. And they still do.
-Mark McCarter
