When the 2025 season gets underway, South Carolina will take the field with two of the top players in the country with one being EDGE Dylan Stewart. The rising sophomore continues to earn high praise for his performance as a freshman while the hype for his potential continues to rise.
In his 13 games played last season, Stewart totaled 23 tackles which included 10.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, which both finished second on the team behind Kyle Kennard. For his performance, Stewart earned freshman All-SEC honors by the league’s coaches while also named to the FWAA Freshman All-America team.
On Friday, Pro Football Focus’ Max Chadwick was ranking the top 10 returning edge defenders and placed Stewart at No. 2 behind Texas’ Colin Simmons. Here’s what Chadwick said on Stewart.
“Stewart is the freakiest athlete the Gamecocks have had at edge defender since Jadeveon Clowney was launching helmets over a decade ago. And like Clowney, he has the upside of becoming a No. 1 overall pick if he keeps up this trajectory.
“The former five-star recruit earned a 91.4 pass-rush grade as just a true freshman, tied for sixth among all edges in America. His 51 pressures were tied for second among returning Power Four edge rushers as well. Stewart needs to get a bit stronger to set the edge better in the run game, but he’s already the most fearsome pass-rusher in college football thanks to his physical gifts.”
Following his stellar freshman campaign, Stewart continues to receive hype for the 2025 season as he was named the No. 2 overall returning player by College Football Network while ESPN’s Cole Cubelic named him as the No. 3 returning player. Stewart was also placed on ESPN’s way-too-early All-America team.
Stewart tallied a sack in six games as a freshman with his best performance coming against Old Dominion when he logged four tackles with 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. In the Citrus Bowl, Stewart logged three tackles with one being for loss while also recovering a fumble.
“A lot of freshmen could come in and maybe get a couple of sacks,” Cubelic said on the ‘Cube Show‘ podcast. “A lot of freshmen can come in and maybe get some wins off the edge. It’s how Dylan Stewart did it. The get off is as good as I have seen. The flexibility was as good, maybe better, than any pass rusher I saw last year and that’s on any team. The ability to just bend and rip and get that facemask like six inches off the ground and then be right back up to go chase the quarterback down. The speed to chase down the quarterback in plays from the backside.
“Can he work on his hands and playing the run just a little bit? Sure. But I will sacrifice some of that to put somebody that’s going to wreck the game when he’s on the field and Dylan Stewart out of South Carolina is going to be able do that.”
