Excitement surrounding Dylan Stewart only continues to grow after impressive debut

Old Dominion right tackle Stephon Dubose-Bourne didn’t stand a chance. Not with who was lining up opposite of him.

Down in his stance, left hand on knee, Dylan Stewart looked ready to run through a brick wall. As soon as the ball was snapped, he was already gone. It was like a starter pistol in a race had just shot off. Before Dubose-Bourne could even extend his hands in pass protection, Stewart had blown by him.

In less than two seconds, Stewart was already in the backfield and blew up the play, forcing ODU quarterback Grant Wilson to lose control of the football. He managed to fall on it, but this was one of many electrifying plays from Stewart in South Carolina’s 23-19 win on Saturday.

18-year-old kids shouldn’t be able to do the things that Stewart does on a football field. But his size and speed play a big part in being the player he is.

“God blessed that young man with a lot of ability, so that’s the first thing,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “Two, Sterling Lucas has done a great job coaching him up and being able to bring a lot of different pass rush moves, whatever you want to call it.”

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The crazy thing is, this past weekend marked Stewart’s collegiate debut. He finished with four tackles, 1.5 sacks, a QB hurry and two forced fumbles, the second of which came in the fourth quarter and was recovered by the defense. This led to the Gamecocks scoring the game-winning touchdown to take the lead the rest of the way.

To put into perspective just how well the true freshman played, he earned a 97.4 grade from Pro Football Focus, the highest of any player in the nation from week one, according to PFF’s Max Chadwick.

For those who have followed Stewart’s journey to South Carolina, this didn’t come as a big surprise. The 6-foot-6, 248-pounder was the No. 1 edge rusher and No. 15 overall recruit in the Class of 2024. As a five-star prospect, he was the highest-ranked recruit in the Gamecocks’ signing class.

“Different players have all types of traits and attributes where they showcase their skillset,” said defensive coordinator Clayton White, trying to draw a comparison to Stewart. “So obviously, he’s not a big Bradley Chubb. I coached Bradley Chubb at NC State. Bradley Chubb is a bigger kind of Kyle Kennard body.

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“The guys that I’ve coached the most that’s similar to Dylan — not as tall as Dylan — was DeAngelo Malone from Western Kentucky. I think he was a two-time Conference USA player of the year, one time when I was there for sure. He’s with the (Atlanta) Falcons now. That’s the closest that I’ve been to, that I’ve coached. I’ve seen other guys on TV but as far as being on the defensive side that I’ve been coordinating, that’s the first one, for sure.”

For this being how Stewart’s first game went, it sets the tone for the rest of the season. He’s undoubtedly going to face tougher offensive fronts as the year goes along. But Beamer believes how the whole defense plays will allow him to be a constant force off the edge.

“You’ve got to give credit to the other 10 players out there as well,” Beamer said. “Some of those pressures, sacks, D-line gains, D-line pressures where there’s other people involved and somebody’s doing their job and Dylan’s the one that happens to come free or Kyle happens to come free. … It’s a great credit to our defense as a whole unit.”

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