By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter
The other day, Southern University wide receiver Juamorris Stewart ran a route that went by his position coach, Eric Dooley, and Dooley was somehow amazed at how big Stewart was.
How could that be? After all, Dooley had recruited Stewart since he was a schoolboy star at Istrouma High School, and this is the start of the second season for Stewart.
“I didn’t realize how big he was. Tuesday,” Dooley said of the 6-foot-3 sophomore. “He has such long arms.”
Remember moments like that one and the ones which could unfold this season. These may be the last times Stewart is, in any way, considered a surprise.
Stewart, who did not play football in 2005 after leaving Southern Miss and had 265 yards and one touchdown on 21 catches last season, shows all the signs of making a big leap this season.
“He’s starting to mature. ... Now you see a different type of confidence,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “That’s what develops a good football team. You develop the confidence in practice that you can execute with consistency, and that’s going to carry over into the game.”
Almost daily in preseason camp, Stewart makes those notice-me-now plays, like hovering up and over a gaggle of defenders to catch a ball. And sometimes, it’s the subtle moments, like the way his large hands vacuum-seal a football. Or it’s in how he tauntingly flipped a ball back after getting the better of free safety Jarmaul George, the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s preseason defensive player of the year, on a deep route. That kind of confidence wasn’t in his game a year ago.
“That’s what I’ve been expecting from him, and I’ve been waiting on it,” Dooley said. “But I knew it was going to take awhile. Last year, he was thrown into the fire early because I knew of that potential. Now, he’s starting to reap that harvest, what I’ve been looking for.”
Stewart was faced with the double-whammy usually reserved for nonqualifiers, that of having to get back into the flow of football after a year out while elevating to the speed and intensity of the collegiate level at the same time. Then, injuries kept forcing changes at quarterback even as he dealt with a shoulder injury.
“Last year, I was more focused on just trying to learn and catch up with everybody else in the system,” Stewart said. “You have to be more physical. I had to grow up faster than what I thought. I wasn’t going to be able to just ease into it.”
Stewart made everything look easy at Istrouma, where he was twice a Class 4A All-State selection. Plus, he was a member of The Advocate’s Super Dozen honorable mention and The Advocate’s 5A-4A All-Metro team Offensive Player of the Year while totaling 1,087 yards and 18 TDs on 66 catches.
And he was an honorable mention all-state basketball player.
Last season Stewart started the difficult transition.
“It’s totally different,” Stewart said. “There’s a work ethic. You have to push yourself to another level.”
“I knew all his strengths, so I was patient with him,” Dooley said. “I knew I couldn’t get a whole lot out of him. He was a little shy last year. He had to make that adjustment.”
Experience has given way to confidence and fanned the fumes of desire.
“I have a different approach. I want to get 10 times better than last year,” Stewart said. “Coach told me I need to step it up, not wait until my senior season.”
Stewart upped his conditioning work in the offseason, getting more muscle and more definition to the point where, yes, Dooley was caught off guard.
“He worked extremely hard this summer and you can see him coming back into that guy you saw coming out of high school,” Dooley said. “Like (junior wide receiver) Mark Henderson, they’re getting what they put into it.”
The extra work and the experience have dovetailed into the fluidity in which Stewart is going about preseason camp.
“He’s back,” Dooley said. “I expect a lot out of him, because I know what he’s capable of. He’s a big-time player.
“I like what he’s doing. I like his level of competition. I like the way he competes. He’s a leader, a born leader. You can see that.”
Stewart, who Dooley said has also made substantial progress in the classroom, starts at “H” and can also play two other receiver positions, “Z” and “X.”
“I move him around to a lot of different positions because he knows the offense and he’s an extremely gifted athlete,” Dooley said. “He can give you the matchup you like.”
NFL scouts recently remarked about Stewart’s tenacious blocking while looking at the tape. When told Stewart was just a sophomore, one scout asked for regular updates on Stewart’s progress.
“He’s just a sophomore. That’s the scary part,” Dooley said. “He’s playing on that level of guys who are (senior). He’s going to be something special.”
No comments:
Post a Comment