D’Andre Swift and Olamide Zaccheaus are old St. Joe’s Prep teammates jump-starting the Eagles offense

TAMPA, Fla. — Moments after St. Joseph’s Prep alumnus Olamide Zaccheaus hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter of the Eagles’ 25-11 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a familiar face greeted the wide receiver in the end zone with a matching megawatt smile.

Running back D’Andre Swift, his former teammate at the Prep, made like his last name as he dashed up the field to congratulate Zaccheaus. They exchanged daps and excited shoves as they basked in the joy of the receiver’s first touchdown with the Eagles.

“It’s amazing playing with a guy I played with in high school,” Swift said after the game. “A guy I looked up to in high school. See him get his first touchdown, I wanted to be the first one over there to celebrate with him.”

Zaccheaus and Swift had no shortage of individual successes to celebrate in the Eagles’ third consecutive win to start the season. The former saw increased playing time as a slot receiver in place of injured first-stringer Quez Watkins. Zaccheaus, who hails from Plainfield, N.J., caught two passes for 58 yards and a touchdown, which came as the result of a Jalen Hurts scramble.

While Zaccheaus and Hurts haven’t taken many reps together, seeing as the wideout signed with the Eagles in free agency this offseason after four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, the receiver downplayed the difficulty of connecting on a scramble play.

“I don’t think it’s tough,” Zaccheaus said. “I think every day, you build that chemistry and trust for the opportunity that you get in the game. Like I’ve always said, it’s an ever-growing process. We just try to strive to keep getting better each day.”

The Eagles took a 10-3 first-half lead on Zaccheaus’ touchdown, but, to that point, offensive coordinator Brian Johnson hadn’t prioritized the running game. By halftime, the Eagles were up, 13-3, but they had 75 rushing yards as a team on just 14 carries. Swift, a week and a half removed from his career-best, 175-yard rushing day against the Minnesota Vikings, had 38 yards on a mere five carries.

» READ MORE: D’Andre Swift remembers his 7-TD outburst for the Prep — but he’ll never forget losing to La Salle a year earlier

But Swift managed to find his groove in the second half while going up against one of the league’s top run defenses led by head coach Todd Bowles, which had allowed a total of 108 rushing yards in the first two games.

“Just stick to what we do,” Swift said of the plan coming out of halftime. “We knew it was going to come down to the run game to finish the game off.”

The Mount Airy native quickly gave himself something to celebrate on the first drive of the third quarter. On second-and-1 at the Bucs’ 42-yard line, Swift exploded up the middle on an inside-zone run for a 26-yard gain. As he stormed up the field, Swift hurdled Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield before he was tackled. The drive ended with a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Hurts to put the Eagles up, 20-3.

But Swift didn’t do it on his own. The Eagles offensive line, namely center Jason Kelce, helped carve out a hole to spring Swift. Kelce’s second-level block on Buccaneers linebacker Devin White gave Swift plenty of room to rip off an explosive run.

“They make it easy,” Swift said of the offensive line. “Just going through my keys pre-snap and then just trusting my eyes, they make it easier.”

Swift finished the night with 16 carries for 130 yards, averaging 8.1 yards per carry. After rushing for 175 yards last week, Swift has reached 100-plus rushing yards in back-to-back games for the second time in his NFL career. He last pulled off the feat on Nov. 14 and 21, 2021 as a member of the Detroit Lions (130- and 136-yard performances against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, respectively).

After the game, Kelce touted Swift’s “dynamic” ability to make defenders miss, a trait that has fueled his hot start with the Eagles.

“He creates a lot of yards after the first contact, or the first unblocked player,” Kelce said. “That’s the biggest thing you want in a running back. If you can add everything up and there’s going to be an extra guy there sometimes, what can you do with that last player? He’s proven to do a really, really good job so far. He’s humming right now.”

With three games in the books, Swift ranks second in the NFL with 308 rushing yards, and he collected only 3 yards on the ground in Week 1. According to Stathead, the last Eagles running back to amass more than 300 rushing yards over the course of two games was Bryce Brown from Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2012 (178- and 169-yard performances against the Carolina Panthers and the Dallas Cowboys, respectively).

At a 102.7 rushing-yards-per-game pace, Swift is in the early stages of setting himself up to eclipse the 1,000 marker for the first time in his career. His personal best is 617 yards in the 2021 season.

To make his red-hot start even sweeter, Swift gets to do it all alongside a former high school teammate. When Swift popped up from the ground after his 26-yard run, Zaccheaus was the first person in his face to hype him up.

“It’s a good day for us,” Zaccheaus said. “Dre did his thing, got in the box. So it was a good day for St. Joe’s Prep.”

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