Beamer holds Dylan Stewart accountable for gun celebration, says situation is handled
As Dylan Stewart brought Jaxson Dart to the ground for his lone sack of the day, he quickly popped up and unleashed a brand-new celebration.
Stewart stood over the Ole Miss quarterback and pretended to shoot him over and over again with an imaginary shotgun. South Carolina, already down by 21 points, was about to get off the field on third down after the sack. Instead, the officials threw a flag and called Stewart for unsportsmanlike conduct, a 15-yard penalty that extended the Rebels’ drive and allowed them to keep going and kick a field goal.
The celebration ultimately didn’t have an impact on the outcome as South Carolina ended up losing 27-3 this past Saturday. But it’s sparked plenty of controversy and criticism towards Stewart for this gesture.
In the days since the moment happened, head coach Shane Beamer spoke with his star freshman EDGE and made sure they took the right steps to address the issue. Beamer said he doesn’t have a “hard fast rule” when things like this occur, but he did call it “unacceptable” on Stewart’s part.
“Dylan Stewart feels awful about that play,” Beamer said. “Dylan Stewart is a really good kid. Dylan Stewart’s mom feels awful about that play. She was obviously very emotional after the game.”
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While it was a bad look for Stewart, he’s far from the first to do such a thing. It’s becoming a more common trend in both college football and the NFL.
On the same day as Stewart’s celebration, Minnesota defensive back Justin Walley received a 15-yard penalty when he lifted up his jersey and allegedly simulate holding a gun in his waist. Just a few weeks ago, New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard flashed double guns with his fingers, which he received a penalty for and was fined more than $14,000.
Beamer said he held Stewart accountable for his actions, though he didn’t specify what the punishment was in this case.
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“I know all the social media angels that have never done anything wrong want me to just tar and feather him out there in the middle of Five Points for his mistake,” Beamer said. “It doesn’t quite work that way. Was he held accountable in this building? Yes. Was there a punishment within this building for what he did? Yes.
“We care about Dylan, we love Dylan, and we have Dylan’s back. A lot of people don’t but the people in this building have his back.”
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Texas A&M football game]
Regardless of what happened behind closed doors, it’s clear Beamer has gotten the message across to Stewart that it cannot happen again. He said Stewart knows “he needs to be better and it was unacceptable.”
“He was a young kid that got caught up in the emotions. I am not excusing it at all,” the fourth-year head coach said. “… We try and educate him and also realize he is an 18-year-old young man. He is ours and it is our job to help him just like a parent will do with a job when a child makes a mistake in a lot of ways.”
In what was an otherwise outstanding day for Stewart, he finished the game with the one sack and three tackles for loss. Stewart will play his first game since the incident when the Gamecocks travel to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 7 Alabama on Saturday at noon on ABC.
“Certainly, we have talked about as a team, there is a way that we want to handle ourselves on the field and the class we want to play with,” Beamer said. “If something repeatedly happens, then yeah, you have decisions to make. We feel good about how we have handled that situation.”
