Barbecue and football, that’s what Texas does.

Lago Vista High School is the perfect example: former Texas Longhorns cornerback Cedric Griffin works the concession stand on Friday nights, fueling fans with his brisket and baby back pork ribs.

But he takes a timeout whenever Lago Vista plays defense, shedding his apron and putting on his dad hat. Griffin’s son, Swayde, is a senior cornerback who has signed with Arizona. Swayde won two gold medals at the UIL State Track Meet in the 110-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash. Sometimes, when Swayde makes a big play, he’ll look up to the concession stand and see his father clapping softly in his signature sun hat.  

This is how Cedric handles Swayde’s journey from following in his father’s footsteps to making a name for himself. Supportive, but not overbearing. At the game, but working the concession stand. To some, that may seem distant. For Cedric, it’s how he stays close to his son. Because part of him wants to watch these games on the fence that separates the stands from the track, coaching his boy up between drives. But he already knows where that road leads. 

Cedric was a cornerback on Texas' 2005 National Championship squad, one of the greatest college football secondaries ever. Swayde watches his game film at least once a week. 

“You can tell he’s the most aggressive person on the field at all times,” Swayde said. “He had a knack for being competitive.”

Swayde inherited that toughness in his first Little League football season with the Del Valle Ducks. Swayde is 6-foot-2 now, but was always the smallest kid growing up. Nobody on Swayde’s team could tackle the opposing running back in the championship game. When they reached the goal line, a touchdown seemed inevitable. Until Swayde, all 4-feet of him, smacked the running back at the goal line. 

“I was a proud dad that day,” Cedric said. “I didn’t say anything about it because I try not to hype my kids up too much. But I was happy about that day for sure.”

Cedric saw the spark that afternoon. He wanted to stoke it into a flame. By sixth grade, he made Swayde set an alarm each morning, hovering over him to ensure he woke up and ran hills. Cedric knows the work ethic required to reach the NFL. He’d instill it into Swayde.

It was a three-year clash between father and son. Cedric was impatient, and Swayde wasn’t ready to stop being a kid. When Swayde reached high school, the moment all those years of training was supposed to lead up to, Cedric instead told his son he was stepping back. 

For Cedric, the only thing harder than his coaching was the decision to stop. But he knew it was the right call. The training drove a wedge between them. He could see their relationship following the path he had with his mother in high school. 

His mother was tough on him. Cedric didn’t understand why she was so strict until later in his adult life. And while he’s thankful for how he was raised, it pushed him away from his mother at the time. He lived with a childhood friend, Anthony Johnson, and his family in San Antonio during those years while the rest of his family lived in Mississippi. But he and his mother reconciled. Cedric knew he and his son would too, if he gave him some leash.

“For boys, it’s just a thing where they have to figure some stuff out on their own,” Cedric said. “They’ll come back to dad at the end of the day.”

Swayde’s earliest memories are of Cedric playing for the Minnesota Vikings. One of the downsides of growing up with an NFL father is thinking that if you just keep doing what everyone else does, it’ll happen for you, too. Once Swayde reached the summer of his junior year and started attending camps, he realized that wouldn’t be the case if he didn’t work for it. If he didn’t train with his father.

“I want to make a name for myself,” Swayde told Cedric.

He did it as a senior, earning First Team All-District in football as a wide receiver and cornerback. But before he could graduate to Tucson, where he's looking forward to be coached by Wildcats cornerbacks coach Chip Viney, he had unfinished business on the track in the 110 hurdles and 200.  

“His whole goal this year was to beat my 110 hurdles time of 13.56 when I was in school,” Cedric said. “I could see it in his eyes that he was determined to be a double-gold champion this year.”

Now, Swayde worked out twice daily, stretched morning and night, and watched track and field highlights. Father and son were so confident entering the state track meet that Cedric posted on X that history was about to be made. 

Swayde won gold medals in the 110 hurdles and 200 at the same University of Texas campus where Cedric starred two decades ago. Frankly, he had earned gold before the meet started. He’d prepared harder than all his competitors with his father. But that was only because he wasn’t forced to - he wanted to.

“There’s no way I even could’ve made it this far without my dad,” Swayde said.

Swayde grew up watching Cedric’s highlight tapes. Now he’s going to make some of his own. And his father will be supporting from the concession stand all the way through.

“He’s going to be my favorite player,” Cedric said.