South Carolina will be without one of its biggest defensive weapons when Kentucky comes to town.
The Gamecocks announced Sunday that Dylan Stewart has been suspended indefinitely, a move that removes the standout defensive end from the Week 5 matchup with the Wildcats. His status with the program will be sorted out later.
It’s a significant blow for South Carolina, especially with pressure already building around Shane Beamer. Kentucky is heading into a road game it has not won since 2021, the first season of Beamer’s tenure in Columbia, and now the Gamecocks have made the decision to play that game without Stewart.
Stewart’s path to this point has been messy. After a breakout true freshman season in 2024, when he posted seven sacks and 51 total QB pressures, he looked like the kind of pass rusher who could climb into the top 10 of the NFL Draft. Instead, a back injury slowed him through the 2025 season, though he still put up five sacks and 37 pressures.
The back trouble followed him again this year. Stewart did not debut until South Carolina’s Week 3 loss to Mississippi State, and things boiled over in Saturday’s loss to Alabama. He was benched after punching a Crimson Tide player and then arguing with his own coaches on the sideline.
Even with all of that, Stewart had still shown flashes of the disruptive player South Carolina needs. In two games against SEC opponents, he logged six pressures - five hurries and one quarterback hit - across just 26 pass-rushing snaps.
He may not have been back to his 2024 level, but he was still the kind of edge rusher Kentucky had to account for. Now the Wildcats won’t have to deal with him at all.
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