Dylan Stewart, a South Carolina football freshman pass rusher, was selected 247Sports’ National Freshman of the Week and PFF’s National Player of the Week.
Shane Beamer’s fourth season as head coach of the South Carolina football team got off to a rocky start on Saturday. Faced with a vastly outmatched Old Dominion Monarchs roster, the Gamecocks narrowly escaped with a 23-19 victory, and after the game, Beamer branded his team’s performance “awful.”
Despite the lackluster performance in Williams-Brice Stadium in week one, the South Carolina football fandom can take some positives away from the game. No good outweighed the Gamecock defensive line’s efforts.
Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart dominated at defensive end, totaling four sacks, six tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles. DeAndre Jules, TJ Sanders, Tonka Hemingway, Boogie Huntley, and Monkell Goodwine were also effective defensive tackles, recording 13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 2 quarterback hurries, 1 fumble recovery, and one blocked PAT.
The unit was the best-performing position group in the game, with Kennard and Stewart being USC’s top two performers.
Chris Hummer of 247Sports took notice and named Dylan Stewart the National Freshman of the Week.
In addition to his great box score figures, Stewart had four quarterback hurries and made the game-changing play of forcing a Grant Wilson fumble, which was recovered by DeAndre Jules within the 10-yard line and led to quarterback LaNorris Sellers’ game-winning touchdown.
Stewart received an unbelievably high PFF grade of 97.4 and was named the nation’s overall defensive player of the week.Stewart was joined on the SEC Team of the Week by Tonka Hemingway and Jalon Kilgore, both Gamecock teammates.
Stewart and the rest of the South Carolina football team will face a tougher opponent in week two, when they travel to Lexington, Kentucky to face SEC foe Kentucky Wildcats.
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