Before, after and wow! Behind Dylan Stewart’s physical transformation with Gamecocks
“Clowney 2.0.”
“QB nightmare fuel.”
“Brother in Christ..”
If South Carolina football fans weren’t excited enough to watch five-star Dylan Stewart suit up this season, they are now.
Stewart enraptured fans on July 24 when he posted “before” and “after” photos of himself on X (formerly known as Twitter) documenting his strength and conditioning journey since arriving in Columbia in January. The post has garnered over 150 reposts, 1,900 likes and 663,100 views (as of Thursday evening) and colorful responses from fans like the three listed above.
At South Carolina’s on-campus media day Thursday, coach Shane Beamer said the Gamecocks had a very productive summer. One that saw great mental and physical growth. There are several players who could’ve posted transformation photos like Stewart did, he added, which is a credit to Luke Day and his strength and conditioning staff.
“Summers in college football are a huge undertaking,” Beamer said, “and our guys have been up here since Memorial Day, that Monday. ... A lot of them look different.”
Stewart is listed as 6-foot-6, 248 pounds on South Carolina’s roster — that’s 20 pounds heavier than when he signed with the Gamecocks. A transformation like his takes hard work and discipline. That applies to his workouts with Day and the strength staff as well as his nutrition.
When asked to run through a typical day, Stewart began with his 9 a.m. call time to the facility.
He arrives, works out, then eats. Wait, no. He arrives, eats, works out, eats again, then reports to Day for more work. Wait, what else...
“I’ll just be eating,” Stewart said, abandoning the chronological effort for a simpler explanation. He doesn’t count his meals, though USC’s nutrition staff guides him in the right direction.
He feels more explosive now than he did back in January. This Southern summer has challenged him, having not experienced such heat back home in Washington, D.C. Overcoming that, he feels stronger mentally.
As preseason practice begins, Stewart’s goal is simple: “To get better every day.”
