South Carolina football is in the thick of spring football, and on Tuesday, Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer met with the media.
One big question mark for the Gamecocks this spring and heading into 2026 is the status of EDGE rusher Dylan Stewart. The Washington, D.C. product had a breakout season as a true freshman in 2024, finishing with 23 total tackles, 6.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.
Last season, his numbers regressed a bit, finishing with jus 23 total stops with 4.5 sacks and three forced fumbles, playing in just 11 games. Stewart dealt with a nagging back injury that he tried playing through all season.
Although the Gamecocks are about halfway through their spring practices, Stewart has yet to get back to full-go at practice. On Wednesday, Beamer was asked about the status of Stewart's recovery, and what the expectation is for him this season.
“Yeah, he’s still dealing with something that really goes back to last season," Beamer said via On3Sports. He was never 100% the last half of the year, battled through a lot of discomfort as we went through the end of the season, we were still evaluating everything to allow him to be the best player, best version of himself he can be when we start practice or when we start the season in September right now.”
“That means just literally doing nothing," Beamer continued. "He was doing some stuff back in January and February, trying to, you know, he was on track. Was doing some great stuff, from a healing standpoint, was on the right track.
"That’s what I told you guys, not that he’s off the right track right now, but from visiting with the doctors and specialists, the best thing for him right now, from a physical standpoint, is to literally do nothing and just let everything rest. So that’s what we’re doing right now. If I got something to report, I’ll report it at some point, but you know, right now, he’s resting, and right now we expect him to be 100% full go when we kick the season off.”
Outside of Stewart, the Gamecocks return plenty of experience on the defensive side of the ball heading into 2026. In ESPN's spring football returning production rankings, South Carolina checked in at No. 5 overall nationally. That metric had the Gamecocks returning 61% of its production on defense from last season.
It's unclear if Stewart will see the field at all for South Carolina's spring practices. But it sounds like Coach Beamer and the team is hopeful he can return when it really matters, by fall camp in a few months from now.