Pace’s Stewart on every school’s wish list
Forty pounds overweight at the time, Shemar Stewart started playing football in the fourth grade, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“I had two left feet,” said Stewart, who played for the Ives Estate Thunder. “I used to be that kid no one wanted to pick for their team.”
Seven years later, Stewart is the kid that every college in the nation would want on their team. Stewart, 17, has grown to become a powerfully built 6-5 1⁄2, 267-pound defensive end, and ESPN ranks him as the country’s No. 3 prospect in the Class of 2022.
Stewart has yet to pick a college but lists 10 schools as finalists: Miami, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Arizona State, Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas A&M and Penn State.
A rising senior at Monsignor Pace, Stewart has yet to make any out-ofstate campus visits and told the Herald he will likely wait until February to sign.
Making his choice won’t be easy.
“Everyone wants a phone call with him,”
Pace coach Mario Perez said. “If he took every call, he wouldn’t have time for anything else.
“Rather than an assistant coach, every school’s head coach has made recruiting Shemar a personal priority.”
Despite all that attention, Stewart has remained humble.
“Shemar is a gentle giant,” Perez said. “He’s big and fast, with no fat on him. He is physically stronger than everyone he plays against.”
Stewart, who had 15 sacks in 10 games as part of his breakout sophomore season, is the highestranked Miami-Dade County player since 2006, which is as far back as ESPN goes in its database.
When including Broward, here are the players who have ranked as highly as Stewart — or at least close: ex-Ely cornerback Patrick Peterson (No. 8 in 2008, signed with LSU); ex-Aquinas cornerback
Lamarcus Joyner (No. 6 in 2010, Florida State); exBooker T. Washington linebacker Matthew Thomas (No. 6, 2013, FSU); ex-Aquinas defensive tackle Nick Bosa (No. 3, 2016, Ohio State); exAmerican Heritage cornerback Patrick Surtain (No. 5, 2018, Alabama); and Palmetto defensive tackle Leonard Taylor
(No. 6, 2021, Miami).
That’s impressive company for Stewart, a Miami native who was born to Jamaican parents.
Stewart said his father is not consistently in his life, but he is close to his grandmother, with whom he lives in North Miami (which is closer to Pace), and his mom. who is in Miramar.
“I hear from [my father] here and there,” Stewart said. “I don’t hold anything against him. He’s in Jamaica.”
Stewart said his high ranking as a prospect “doesn’t matter,” but he also knows how fortunate he is to be courted by some of the top college football programs in the nation.
He became a football player because of his buddies.
“Growing up in Miami, all my friends played football,” he said. “I wanted to be as good as them or even better.”
Stewart said he accomplished that goal because of his work ethic as well as his voracious appetite. Around Stewart, entire boxes of pizza do not stand a chance.
Academically, Stewart has a 3.0 grade-point average.
This past season, Pace played just six games. Stewart missed 2 1⁄ games
2 because of shoulder and knee injuries.
He’s healthy now and primed for a monster senior season as Pace’s defensive end on the wide side of the field.
“Everyone runs away from him,” Perez said.
“He has a huge impact on games because he takes away more than half the field, and we know where the offense is going with the ball.
“His ability to stunt and slant makes him nearly impossible to block.”