TUCSON – Jason Sweet sits down, his 6-foot-2, 222-pound frame all but suffocating the chair. His tattooed arms strain the University of Arizona red Nike tank top he’s wearing. A long, vertical scar runs down his right knee.
It’s a Monday afternoon and the rain is pounding the streets outside the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility on the UA campus. Sweet places his backpack beside the chair. He has class in an hour.
The tape recorder is turned on. For 51 minutes, Sweet tells his story, his words spilling out softly but at a rapid pace. When he’s through, the UA public-relations official who had set up the interview is still standing nearby.