South Carolina's Dylan Stewart throws punch in frustration at Alabama player during blowout loss

Well, this certainly isn't the thing you want to see from one of your star players on defense. During South Carolina's frustrating 49-18 loss on Saturday night against the No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide, EDGE rusher Dylan Stewart showed the Gamecocks' performance was getting to him. 

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Tide took a 42-18 lead off of a Daniel Hill rushing touchdown. Stewart was in during the play, and he took out his frustration on Tide tight end Josh Ford:

Although throwing a punch typically results in an automatic ejection. But in this case, the refs gave him a personal foul penalty.

After the play, Stewart was greeted on the sideline by an irate head coach Shane Beamer. It appeared as though Coach Beamer was telling Stewart that his job is to get off the field, but it's unclear exactly what was said. Stewart continued to walk off the field while Beamer laid into him: 

After the game, Beamer said that he did not see Stewart throw the punch until after the game:

“I didn’t see it until just now, and that’s unacceptable,” Beamer said via Gamecock Central. “That’s not how we do things around here. And I’m embarrassed to see that because that’s not what we’re about. I didn’t see it during the game."

That wasn't the only point of frustration on the night for Stewart. During the game, Stewart was going to be subbed out for true freshman Julian Walker, but Stewart refused to come off. He was seen arguing with the coaches coming off of the field, as they eventually got him to come off:

Obviously, you can understand why Stewart was frustrated, as his defense gave up 48 points and 489 yards of offense. But throwing a punch is never, ever acceptable, and nearly almost receives a costly penalty. Not to mention Stewart is one of the longtime leaders of both the South Carolina defense and entire team, in addition to being projected to go early in the first round of the 2027 NFL Draft next year.

We'll see what Beamer or Stewart has to say about the play and the exchange afterwards this evening and over the coming days. 

The Gamecocks' EDGE rusher finished the night with zero recorded tackles, as he continues to make his way back from the back injury he's been dealing with since last season. 

Next up for Alabama is a home game against the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday afternoon on SEC Network.

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