South Carolina’s season took another sharp turn on Sunday, with the Gamecocks suspending star EDGE rusher Dylan Stewart indefinitely after his actions in Saturday’s loss to Alabama.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the move Sunday afternoon, and the incident that sparked it came late in the Crimson Tide game. Stewart threw a punch at an Alabama player and was also seen jawing back at coaches on the sideline. On3’s Pete Nakos added that Shane Beamer is expected to decide Stewart’s future with the program “in the next day or two.”
For South Carolina, the timing is messy. The Gamecocks are already sitting at 2-2 with back-to-back SEC losses against Mississippi State and Alabama, and a brutal stretch is waiting on the other side.
Tennessee is part of that run, with the Volunteers scheduled to visit Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 24.
That matchup is still four weeks away, so Stewart’s status for that game remains unclear and will hinge on Beamer’s discipline. South Carolina will also be coming off a bye week before that meeting.
Stewart’s absence would be a major development for a defense that has leaned on his talent in the past. He’s in his third season with the Gamecocks and has already put together a strong career line: 56 tackles, 11 sacks, six forced fumbles and three pass deflections over his freshman and sophomore seasons. After the 2025 season, the coaches named him a Second-Team All-SEC selection.
This year, though, Stewart has barely been able to get rolling. He missed the first two games because of injury, has been limited since returning, and has only one total tackle on the season. His injury began during the 2025 season.
South Carolina returns home this weekend to face No. 24 Kentucky in Columbia. Tennessee, ranked No. 17, will host Auburn this weekend before its bye week arrives after the South Carolina game in October.
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Still, there is enough individual production on the roster to give Vanderbilt a reason to keep showing up with confidence. Junior Sherrill, Nick Rinaldi, CJ Heard and Sedrick Alexander have all supplied meaningful pieces of the puzzle, and their work has helped the Commodores stay competitive even as the schedule stiffens. What matters now is whether those efforts can travel into one of the toughest venues in the SEC and keep Vanderbilt from losing ground before the hardest part of the calendar truly opens up. [Read more 🡒]