For years, most of the high school football players at St. Thomas Aquinas who went on to play college football stayed in the south.

But Brett Swenson, Michigan State's senior kicker, blazed a northbound trail, and high school teammates have followed.

Ohio State wide receiver Duron Carter, Purdue tight end Gabrison Holmes, Wisconsin linebacker Conor O’Neill and defensive back Dezmen Southward along with Notre Dame punter Ben Turk and long snapper Jordan Cowart will all be freshmen this year after playing at St. Thomas Aquinas.

So when Swenson looks at an opposing sideline now, he’s more likely to see at least one or two familiar faces from not so long ago.

“It’s kind of weird they are branching out now,” Swenson said. “But it’s nice. There’s a great tradition of players that come out of that school, seeing them around and everything.”

VIDEO: BRETT SWENSON KICKING OFF A TEE FROM FAR DISTANCES

Most of all, it seems, he likes when he plays Notre Dame. The senior graduated with two of the Irish’s starting offensive linemen: right tackle Sam Young and center Dan Wenger.

Lately, he’s been able to hold a little bit of bragging rights over them, too. Going into Swenson and Young’s senior year -Wenger redshirted and has a year of eligibility remaining - he holds a 2-1 lead over them.

“I was hanging out with Sam Young a little bit and we were talking about this game this summer and we have to get to 3-1 against him and he wants to even the score,” Swenson said. “He goes ‘I want to be even with you so I don’t have to hear about it.’”

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Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for annarbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558 or by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com.