The way Jeffery Simmons describes it, playing defensive tackle in the NFL sounds like a blunt form of medieval torture. Every play, no matter what's going on around you, 600 pounds are piled on top of you.

Whether it's a 300-pound guard with a 300-pound center or a 300-pound tackle with the 300-pound guard, you've got the weight of a full-grown male grizzly bear thudding into you. Playing a game at defensive tackle is the equivalent of a vending machine falling on top of you 50 times in the same day.

But sometimes, if you're lucky, you only have to deal with 300 pounds. Those are the moments when instead of dealing with a vending machine falling on you, you only have to react to a refrigerator falling on you. That's when life is supposed to be easy.

In the final period of his first training camp practice pn Wednesday with the Tennessee Titans, rookie defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat didn't waste his refrigerator moment.

Sweat lined up one-on-one against Lloyd Cushenberry III on the third-to-last play of Wednesday's practice, shaded just over the right shoulder of the NFL's second-highest-paid center. Sweat screamed across Cushenberry's body from the snap, swimming across the veteran's body and shoving him aside to envelop running back Tony Pollard in the backfield for a loss.

The offense probably should've put an extra 300 pounds on Sweat there.

"My first day, it was great really," Sweat said after practice. "Just coming out here and doing what I love, really. It’s great just being out here and having another opportunity."

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Sweat wasn't on the field much during Titans OTAs or for any of minicamp. For the 366-pounder the Titans used a second-round pick on in April, that's not a concern. When asked why he wasn't able to practice, Sweat deferred to coach Brian Callahan, who didn't speak to media Wednesday. When asked if he needs to pace himself at the start of training camp, he said he's full-go. When asked about his conditioning, he says he feels great. When asked if he's moving well, he said "Oh yeah."

Sebastian Joseph-Day, one of the veterans on the Titans' defensive line, says he was still a little surprised to see how well Sweat moved on his first day. No matter how much film you watch or how many stories you hear, it's still jarring to see a man of Sweat's stature play nimbly. And since Sweat spent a huge chunk of his day playing next to Simmons, an All Pro who's one of the five best defensive tackles on earth, it's easy to envision how Sweat's skills paired with Simmons' present an obvious mismatch.

The big challenge for Sweat will be sustaining his motor and conditioning across training camp and into the long grind of a regular season. But that's true for every football player, 366 pounds or not. Simmons made sure not to single out Sweat when talking about this; he said he and all the rest of the defensive linemen all have to get in shape this month. That's what training camp's for.

Still, Sweat's the one who's going to have to deal with the double-team-block's worth of scrutiny about his conditioning. Not that that bothers him. He says he never feels pressure.

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Not even the peer pressure to fit in among his new state when he's got Texas blood roaring through his veins.

"All the SEC stuff, that’s bogus. But you know how that is. Everybody knows who the real UT is," Sweat said with a smile. "I don’t really got to explain that. I’m in Tennessee so everyone will be like ‘Oh, the real UT is here. Nah. That’s not here."

Sweat's journey to emergence presents something of a full circle moment for Cushenberry. When Cushenberry was a rookie in Denver in 2020, the training camp battles that molded him into one of the league's most reliable centers came against Titans great Jurrell Casey. Now Cushenberry's playing the Casey role, a veteran on a new squad helping mold a Day 2 draft pick into something great through competition.

Cushenberry admits he got beat on that play against Sweat on Wednesday. He says there are things he could've done better, but Sweat made a play. That's another thing training camp's for: "trying to beat each other up a little bit so we can go out and beat up another team," as Cushenberry puts it.

While Cushenberry watches film to come back for a rematch on Day 2, Joseph-Day's already buying into Sweat's potential.

"His athleticism for his size, man. How humble he is. How willing he is to learn," said Joseph-Day when asked what stands out about Sweat. "Great young man. The sky’s the limit for Sweat."

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: T'Vondre Sweat wreaks havoc in 1st Titans training camp session