South Carolina football freshman Dylan Stewart has taken the college football world by storm. The first-year EDGE player entered the 2024 season with high expectations as he was a 5-star player in last year’s recruiting class, but he has exceeded even the highest expectations.
Depending on which source you check, Stewart has recorded either 2.5 or 3.5 sacks, 2 or 3 forced fumbles, and 3.5 or 4.5 tackles for loss in two games (a strip sack against Kentucky makes the difference, as the official scorekeeper credited the play to Kyle Kennard, but Stewart was the one who touched the ball first).
For some reason, these numbers fall far short of his impact on the game.
Stewart has done well against the run, but has been a threat when pressuring the passer. If he doesn’t sack the quarterback, he pressures the pocket and/or gets held. On a play against the Kentucky Wildcats that went viral, he fought through double coverage while being held, then beat a back who helped before chasing quarterback Brock Vandagriff out of the pocket and forcing a poorly thrown incomplete pass that ended the drive; essentially, he beat triple coverage, a hold, and a rollout away from himself to make a big play.
The strong play has caught the attention of many in the college football world, but on Thursday’s edition of “Bussin’ with the Boys,” Barstool Sports analysts Taylor Lewan and Will Compton hyped Stewart in a big way.
Lewan started by picking the South Carolina Gamecocks to win this weekend’s victory over the LSU Tigers, then said he didn’t know if he’d ever seen a player “throw tackles in a blender like that,” and then said he had the potential to be better than Jadeveon Clowney. Lewan is a guy who should know Jadeveon Clowney’s abilities, as he was the Michigan Wolverines’ left tackle who missed the block on the play known as “The Hit” and then competed against Clowney for several years in the NFL’s AFC South division, with both players making three Pro Bowl appearances.
Lewan even compared Stewart to future Hall of Fame EDGE players Von Miller and Maxx Crosby: “He has the power of Von Miller and the swing of Maxx Crosby.”
Compton described the young Gamecock as “relentless” and a player whose “bend is insane.” The longtime NFL linebacker said he believes Stewart can go “through you (or) around you” when attacking quarterbacks and he could be “the second pick in a couple of years” in the 2027 NFL Draft. Compton, a Nebraska alumnus, would like Huskers quarterback Dylan Raiola to be the first pick.
Stewart and his South Carolina football teammates will play LSU on Saturday at noon ET in front of a sold-out crowd and on College GameDay at Williams-Brice Stadium. The game will be available on ABC, ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
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