COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dylan Stewart is not much of a talker.
The 6-foot-5, 245-pound game-wrecker of a defensive end is polite yet quiet when you sit across from him inside the Long Family Football Operations Center. Coaches joke about how many words you’ll be able to get out of him in an interview. There are no long monologues or trash talking from the sophomore South Carolina star that CBS Sports ranked as the No. 6 player in all of college football coming out of the spring.
He doesn’t need to boast about his talents when you can just turn on the tape and see what could be a generational talent. A five-star prospect in the 2024 class out of Washington D.C., Stewart has drawn comparisons to former Gamecocks star and No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney. In just his first year of college football, he totaled 6.5 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and 34 quarterback hurries. If he keeps improving, he could follow in Clowney’s footsteps and be drafted very high in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Kyle Kennard, Stewart’s former running mate at South Carolina and last year’s best defensive player as the Nagurski winner, couldn’t have been more effusive in his praise.
“Dylan is going to be an all-timer in this sport,” Kennard told CBS Sports. “He’s an athletic freak, gifted. Once he puts everything together that he needs to, the sky is the limit for that guy.”
Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who thankfully can’t get hit by him but sees his impact every day, described him as “ferocious, vicious.”
Stewart and Sellers are two critical building blocks for a South Carolina program that just missed making last year’s College Football Playoff. The two budding stars give hope that this year’s team could be even better and able to get over the playoff hump. The schedule is arduous — three top 10 teams in CBS Sports’ composite rankings are on the docket — but very few teams can claim a Heisman Trophy contender (Sellers) and Nagurski Award contender (Stewart) like the Gamecocks can.
That South Carolina could keep both after terrific freshman seasons is a credit to coach Shane Beamer and the rest of his staff. Stewart and Sellers will each be compensated in the seven-figure range this season, but with the flurry of money that flooded the market in December when front-loading and future revenue share money supercharged player compensation, the superstars could have made more elsewhere. Every program in the country could use a Stewart.
“Knowing that people were trying to steal them? Yeah absolutely, that happened,” Beamer told CBS Sports. “Worried about losing them? I wasn’t because not that everything is perfect here, but I know they are happy here and I know that they know they can be developed here. The reason that Dylan chose to come to South Carolina and the reason that LaNorris chose to come here out of high school, those reasons are still here.”
Stewart never seriously considered leaving, he says, because of the loyalty and connection he feels throughout the South Carolina program.
“Money is not everything,” Stewart told CBS Sports. “Money can sometimes not make you happy. If you have the right people around you, and the right situation with the proper things, you’ll be fine.”
Stewart already faced unprecedented attention as a freshman from opposing teams. Even with Kennard, who finished with 11.5 sacks last season, on the other side, Stewart still regularly faced double teams and even an absurd triple-team in a game against Kentucky that served as his coming-out party.
Without Kennard, those issues could be even more pronounced for Stewart though South Carolina is bullish about Bryan Thomas, who had 4.5 sacks last season.
Knowing what’s to come, Stewart has worked on improving his strength, hand placement and stamina so he doesn’t wear down over the course of the season. In his first year transitioning from high school to the SEC, he could feel the nicks and bruises over the course of the season and not be quite as effective as when he exploded onto the scene with 1.5 sacks in his first collegiate game. He’s intent on not letting that slow him down this year. He wants and expects to be even more disruptive this season.
The scariest thing for opposing teams? He’s obsessed with football.
Sure, he’ll play the occasional EA Sports College Football video game, but he’s constantly thinking about football and working on getting better. There are no outside hobbies, just finding new ways to aggressively pummel quarterbacks.
“I don’t really do a lot,” he says. “My main thing is just playing football.”
On Aug. 31, all Stewart’s offseason work will be on display in the Gamecocks’ season opener against Virginia Tech.
The Hokies may want to read up on their history to know what to expect opposite them. Because while Teddy Roosevelt surely didn’t have a 6-foot-5 athletic freak in mind when he said it, Stewart embodies the mantra of “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” And this season, he expects to go far.
TheBigSpur has the most experienced experts and insiders covering the Gamecocks on the ground in South Carolina. The market leader in coverage, TBS, produces team news, recruiting and transfer portal scoop, analysis, opinions and more. It’s the largest site covering the Gamecocks with the most active community of South Carolina fans. Be the first to know news before it happens by signing up for a VIP membership and experience what TheBigSpur has been providing to fans for close to 20 years.
Read the full article here
