• South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart is off to a scorching hot start to his career: The true freshman’s 94.0 PFF pass-rush grade leads all edge defenders in college football.
• His toughest test of the season is on deck: Stewart will face two potential first-round offensive tackles in LSU’s Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr. in Week 3.
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Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
A phenom is characterized as someone with overwhelming talent, one who garners admiration as a fast riser in their craft.
That perfectly describes South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart, who is already one of the most fearsome pass-rushers in college football despite being just 18 years old. The true freshman’s 94.0 PFF pass-rush grade through Week 2 leads all FBS edge defenders by three points. It’s also the highest mark for a Power Five freshman edge defender over the first two weeks in PFF college history, besting Myles Garrett’s previous record of 92.0 in 2014.
The first thing you notice about Stewart is his flexibility at 6-foot-6 and 248 pounds. That bend allows him to deploy a nearly unguardable ghost move.
how in the world is this is a true freshman pic.twitter.com/6Jq9qghsbQ
— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) September 3, 2024
He also already has great power and core strength, which allows him to walk back offensive tackles.
Dylan Stewart going crazy pic.twitter.com/KIe4iazeCe
— NMD Grant (@NMDgrant) September 7, 2024
And sometimes, even a triple team isn’t enough to stop him.
Dylan Stewart beating a triple-team.
This kid is SPECIAL
pic.twitter.com/Cn50l89jbr— Max Chadwick (@MaxChadwickCFB) September 7, 2024
Stewart has been so impressive through the first two weeks of the season that PFF lead draft analyst Trevor Sikkema recently said he’d draft him in the top 10 of the 2025 NFL Draft right now and that he’d be the first edge defender off the board. Unfortunately for NFL fans, Stewart can’t hear his name called until 2027.
Dylan Stewart has DOMINATED as a True Freshman👀 pic.twitter.com/mtEg0xR9l9
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 11, 2024
Stewart's next test comes against a fearsome duo of 2025 NFL Draft-eligible tackles — and first-round prospects on PFF’s 2025 big board at that. LSU currently employs the nation’s best tackle duo in Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr. Campbell entered the season as my top tackle in college football and is a top-10 draft prospect. He is the fifth-most valuable Power Five tackle since 2022, according to PFF’s wins above average metric, trailing top-15 picks like Joe Alt, Taliese Fuaga and JC Latham. Campbell has yet to surrender a quarterback pressure this year on 79 pass-blocking snaps.
LSU right tackle Emery Jones Jr. entered the year as my No. 9 offensive tackle in the nation and is the No. 31 prospect on PFF’s 2025 big board. In 2023, he was one of only six SEC tackles who earned 70.0-plus PFF grades in pass blocking and run blocking.
Stewart’s start to his college career has been better than any edge defender in the PFF college era, even players who have gone on to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year. If he’s able to maintain this dominance against the best offensive tackle duo in college football, he’ll go from one of the biggest rising stars to one of the biggest stars in college football, period.
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