Discipline. Composure. South Carolina seems to lack either of it after Dylan Stewart got comfortable enough to punch an Alabama player. But that’s barely where their pains end. The program has also lost control of its fanbase after suffering a loss against the Crimson Tide, and they are currently demanding that head coach Shane Beamer be sacked!
For Stewart, however, all this noise could affect his future in the sport. At least, that’s what commentator Todd McShay believes.
“Now, throwing a few punches. The thing that concerned me, quite honestly, is it was a dumb mistake to go and have the personal foul penalty or the unnecessary roughness penalty, right?” Todd McShay said in an X video posted by him on September 28. “It’s the behavior afterwards. And, directly, beyond disobedience, it was unhinged. It felt really unhinged. And that was concerning.
“It was just the disrespect to Shane Beamer, your head coach, the disrespect to the assistant coaches. As an [NFL] evaluator, the talent is explosive. He is elite. But evaluators are trying to figure this out: what are we bringing in?”
Here’s what happened: the problem wasn’t just the punch. There were several instances throughout the game against Alabama that rubbed people the wrong way.
Stewart was flagged for roughing Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell in the first half, with cameras later showing Beamer confronting him on the sideline. The situation got worse late in the fourth quarter, shortly after Alabama went up 42-18, when Stewart swung at tight end Josh Ford’s helmet. Ford later brushed off the exchange, saying Stewart hit him three times and calling it a good battle.
Officials flagged Stewart but kept him in the game.
Late in the fourth quarter, freshman Julian Walker came in to replace him, but Stewart waved him off and then pushed him away. Position coach Deion Barnes sent Walker back onto the field and signaled for Stewart to come off, but the player stayed in until multiple coaches stepped onto the field.
It goes without saying that a suspension was on its way.
As announced on Sunday by Beamer, the edge rusher has been suspended indefinitely.
“I’ll make the decision on what his future looks like,” Beamer mentioned. “There’s a standard of how we do things in our program. It’s beyond the punch. The punch is unacceptable. He’s not the first person to ever, unfortunately, throw a punch in a football game, and he won’t be the last.
“But it’s some of the other stuff that isn’t how we do things in this program. Accountability is a core value of this program, and we are all accountable to the standard.”
But if you thought the discipline issues would end here, you’d be wrong! The Alabama incident added context to what happened a year earlier.
Stewart was ejected against Vanderbilt in 2025 after shoving a Commodores offensive lineman, though the SEC cleared him to play the following week.
What is greatness without discipline?
As McShay suggested, NFL scouts and evaluators know Stewart is an elite talent. In fact, he is viewed as one of the most talented defenders in the 2027 class. His burst, bend, and ability to beat blockers with multiple pass-rush moves give him the kind of traits NFL teams chase early in the draft.
He recorded 6.5 sacks as a freshman in 2024 and another 4.5 in 2025, while ESPN’s Jordan Reid had him ranked No. 6 overall and as the first defender off the board. He is projected to be a first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
That leaves NFL evaluators with a more complicated projection. Stewart still has top-end physical tools, but teams now have to factor his discipline and decision-making into the same evaluation.
So, his draft stock is on the line. That’s exactly what analyst Josh Pate also suggested.
“If Dylan Stewart entered Saturday’s game with the goal of completely tanking his draft stock, I don’t know that he would’ve done anything different than what I watched. One of the most self-destructive nights I can remember seeing an elite talent have.”
South Carolina sits at 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the SEC, with Kentucky next before a matchup with Florida. Beamer said he expected to make a decision on Stewart’s future in Columbia within a day or two, leaving both his role with the Gamecocks and his longer-term evaluation under greater scrutiny.