What Shane Beamer said to doubters about South Carolina star Dylan Stewart's injury
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COLUMBIA — South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer is pushing back against any negative narratives regarding star edge rusher Dylan Stewart’s injury.
Some fans on social media after South Carolina lost to Clemson Nov. 29 questioned how serious Stewart’s injury was.
Stewart dealt with a back injury or pain of some sort since midway through the season and he missed time in the second half of the final game vs Clemson, a week after he was out for the entire game against Coastal Carolina.
“The guy basically had a broken back,” Beamer said Dec. 3. “For anybody to criticize that guy and try to create any kind of conspiracy theory about why he wasn’t out there as much against Clemson, most players in the country wouldn’t even have been playing in that game but he gutted it out.”
Beamer did not name the specific injury but said Stewart needs rest, not surgery. He said it wasn’t quite literally a broken back and that they weren’t risking his health by letting Stewart play. Doctors and Stewart’s mother were consulted throughout the process.
“There’s other players across the SEC that have a similar injury that are playing like Dylan is but he’s in a position where there’s a lot of bending and contact, and he gutted it out throughout the season,” Beamer said.
Dylan Stewart injury update from Shane Beamer
Ahead of the Ole Miss game on Nov. 1, Stewart popped up on the SEC injury report but ultimately played. The doctors told him playing won’t make it worse but rest is the main way to heal.
“I don’t know what our record was when we played Ole Miss … (it was) not good and he easily could have said, ‘Man it’s November 1. We’re not having the season that we want. I’m going to shut it down and rest and get ready for January,”‘ Beamer said. “He didn’t, he went out and played against Ole Miss, Texas A&M.”
Stewart left the game in the first half against Oklahoma on Oct. 18 but at the time, Beamer labeled it as a hip injury. He appeared on the injury report for the following week against Alabama but played then too.
Stewart started in all 11 of the games he played in this season and had 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and 19 solo tackles.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Shane Beamer explains South Carolina star Dylan Stewart’s injury
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