WR Brad Stewart, maybe the state’s most underrated prospect (AJC)
Brad Stewart's grayshirt offer from Georgia Tech transformed into a regular football scholarship offer on Tuesday.
Stewart is the Class AA Player of the Year after leading Savannah’s Benedictine Military high school to its first state championship. He’s a 6-foot-1 receiver who took an official visit to Georgia Tech this past weekend.
“Coach Johnson was going to let him sign his letter of intent on Wednesday anyways, knowing that a scholarship would open by this summer,” Stewart’s father told the AJC.
“But Johnson called today and told Brad, ‘No, the scholarship is open now.’ So they’ve sent him the paperwork. He was very excited about it. Well, I guess you could say that he was extremely excited about it.”
Will Stewart commit to Georgia Tech? His father politely declined to answer the question, saying that they were in the process of contacting Brad’s finalists, including Yale, Georgia Southern, Furman, Mercer and Appalachian State.
Brad left school early on Tuesday for a game with Benedictine’s basketball team, and he won’t be home to talk with his family until nearly midnight.
Tech got involved with Stewart last month. Johnson flew to Savannah for a face-to-face meeting, even though the Yellow Jackets didn’t have a scholarship to offer at that time. However, Johnson extended a grayshirt offer, meaning Stewart could sign this Wednesday but have to delay his enrollment until next January.
Johnson also promised a regular scholarship offer when the first one became available – which is apparently what happened on Tuesday.
“Coach Johnson is a stand-up guy,” Stewart’s father said. “Anything he tells anybody in recruiting, you can take it to the bank. I’ve heard that from anybody who has ever had any dealings with hm. He’s just that type of gentlemen, and that type of coach. If he tells you something, he is true to his word.”
Stewart was the best out of 40+ major-college prospects during state championship week at the Georgia Dome. In the Class AA finals, Stewart leaped over a defensive back (committed to Tennessee) to make a circus catch for touchdown reception that has been dubbed "The Catch." Stewart had a monster senior season, with 68 catches for 1,394 yards and 18 touchdowns, while also intercepting eight passes.
It’s baffling to why Stewart isn’t being recruited by more bigger schools because he’s dominated kids with SEC/ACC offers consistently over the last two seasons, including at a junior all-star game which boasted three prospects that are rated 5-star recruits.
Stewart gets praised for his cerebral play and academics (4.24 GPA and 28 ACT), but unfortunately it overshadows his spectacular athleticism — including a 38-inch vertical, 4.52 speed in the 40, his ball-hawking skills, his ability to time his jump to peak when the ball arrives, and his uncanny ability to simply make plays. He has the “it factor” and he proves it repeatedly against the top competition.
