Running back bursts onto scene as freshman
Samuel Stewart
With only one carry to his name headed into the Rice University vs. University of Texas game hosted in Austin on Sept. 12, not too many people knew who redshirt freshman running back Sam Stewart was. Following his breakout performance against the Longhorns, Stewart was not only a hot topic on the Rice campus and in the state of Texas, but also in football circles across the nation.
Stewart rushed the ball 25 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He also brought in a duo of receptions and had a kick return of 46 yards. By the time the game was over, Stewart single-handedly racked up 193 total yards, an unexpected surprise for a player with virtually no prior game experience. Stewart’s play-making ability directly led to both scores, and all who were watching took notice. His second touchdown of the night came on a 22-yard pitch play to his left in which Stewart hurdled a Texas defender from the four-yard line to secure the score. The play received a “SportsCenter Top 10” distinction that aired that night and for the remainder of the weekend.
Stewart grew up in Cypress, Texas and began playing football in the third grade. He realized he had a real talent for the sport when he began playing for Cypress Woods High School in 2011. In his time there, Stewart ran for nearly 1,800 yards while racking in 947 receiving yards. As a versatile running back, receiver and kick returner, Stewart scored a combined 36 touchdowns for his team.
Stewart, Baker College sophomore and an economics major, said he chose to play football at Rice despite receiving offers to play at schools such as Mississippi State University, Duke University and Texas Tech University.
“I wanted to find a place with great academics and where I could play D1 football as well,” Stewart said. “It was about 30 minutes from my house... and my mom wanted me to be prepared for future after football and [I] knew that I could have a degree to fall back on if football ever ends.”
Before talking about his individual accomplishments from the Texas game, Stewart said his offensive line performed well, providing him with sizeable gaps to run through.
“The [offensive line] was working hard all week and it [came] from a mindset that we were just as good as they were,” Stewart said. “We went into it knowing we were going to run our plays ... and not [fold] under the pressure of who we were playing against but continue to get downfield and to the second level.”
Regardless of how many touchdowns Stewart had in his high school days, Stewart said his two highlight reel touchdowns against Texas came primarily from instinct and a determination to reach the endzone.
“It was honestly a great feeling, very hard to describe,” Stewart said. “The first one was really just instinct that I got back on my feet and kept running ... because in the heat of the moment that’s all you can do. And on the second run, my thought process was to get [into the end zone] and he was going low so I had the option of going out of bounds or taking the leap.”
Despite losing to Texas 42-28 that Saturday night, Rice had multiple positive takeaways from the game including an advantage in first downs, total yards and dominating time of pos- session.
Stewart commented on what the focus of practice was following the UT loss but also said his team and particularly the Rice offense can compete with any other team out there.
“We knew we had to cut down on the turnovers and ... we focused on having good ball security at all times,” Stewart said.”We know we are a dangerous offense and have a great ro- tation of running backs out there [that] always put forth maximum effort [to] get yardage in cer- tain situations.”
This past weekend, Rice took on the University of North Texas and won 38-24. The Owls applied what they had worked on in practice by committing zero turnovers in the afternoon and had a healthy dose of the ground game once again. Stewart ran for 48 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown, giving him three scores on the season.
The next game for the Owls is a matchup in Waco to face Baylor University. Stewart said he believes Rice will treat this like any other game and must remain focused if they wish to come out victorious.
“We really just want to stick to our game and not let them make us do something that we would normally not do,” Stewart said. “We’re going to play hard and treat them like any other team on the schedule to hopefully get the win.”
Stewart and the Owls are in action again this upcoming Saturday as they take on the No. 5 nationally ranked Baylor Bears in Waco, Texas. Baylor is currently ranked 91st in rush- ing defense in college football, allowing close to 190 rushing yards per game. Stewart and his crew of running backs will look to exploit this potential weakness of the Bears. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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