Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables encourages Clemson linebacker Tony Steward. Associated Press photo
Tony Steward was an ALL-USA linebacker at Menendez (St. Augustine, Fla.) in 2010. Photo by Tom Lemming
USA TODAY has been recognizing the nation’s top high school athletes for more than 30 years. As we prepare to announce the 2014 American Family Insurance ALL-USA Football Team in December, we’ll dig into the archives and check in with ALL-USA honorees from the past three decades. Today, we’re catching up with Clemson linebacker Tony Steward, who was an ALL-USA linebacker at Pedroe Menendez (St. Augustine) in 2010.
When Clemson’s football team plays host to North Carolina on Saturday, Tigers linebacker Tony Steward will be expected to help his team slow an offense that is averaging 42.7 points a game.
Stopping the Tar Heels requires a lot of patience, the willingness to stay in assigned lanes. Steward has had to develop patience out of necessity.
Coming out of Pedro Menendez High in St. Augustine, Fla., he was labeled as a can’t-miss recruit, ranked higher by recruiting services than Tim Tebow, who had come out of neighboring Nease (Jacksonville) a few years prior.
But knee injuries can humble even the best of players. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in December of his senior year at Menendez and then as a freshman, blew out the ACL of his other knee during a punt return drill in October. Though he got back on the field as a junior, it was not until this fall when Steward, now a senior, finally became a starter.
“I think Clemson middle linebacker Stephone Anthony helped me a lot when I got injured,” Steward said. “He kept reassuring me that everything was going to be OK. It makes it much easier when you have help. I just kept telling them to keep doing what he’s doing. I couldn’t wait to be on the field to be next to him. Now, we’re finally on the field together.”
Steward, a 6-foot, 235-pound weakside linebaker, is third on the team with 16 tackles, and says he’s more confident than he has been in years.
“At the beginning of my junior year, I started getting that confidence back,” he said. “It helped by just getting out there and playing, even if it was on special teams and knowing the worst thing that could happen is I would hurt my knee and I could deal with that.”
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Steward has come through all of his injuries with a tougher mindset.
MORE: Pirates prospect Meadows started slowly but closed with a hot bat
“It’s not just that he’s had tough injuries, but it’s when they’ve happened,” Swinney said. “He misses a good bit of his senior year, and then fights back and gets five games into his freshman season and gets hurt again. He misses two whole springs in a row and is set back from that. Then he gets back fully healthy and he’s behind a guy like Spencer Shuey, who’s just not going to give it up. I’m proud of him. He’s a man – a full-grown man. And he has a toughness about him that not many young men have.”
All the time on the sidelines may have made Steward a smarter player as well.
“I think I understand the game more,” Steward said. “That helps me be more of a complete player. I understand what I need to do on the defense. The time off has made me hungrier to get back on the field. It allowed me to sit back and observe everybody’s attitude and you see different things. I think the toughest part of being hurt is coming back is such a long process.”
Steward’s younger brother, Halem, is now a senior linebacker at Menendez and while not as highly recruited as his older brother, has a good shot to play as a Division I linebacker.
“I try to talk with him as much as I can,” Steward said. “I know that he’s pretty busy. I think the biggest lesson is to just enjoy recruiting and do what he feels he need to do.”