Thursday, August 21, 2008
A.J. Steward wears a different color jersey in practice these days. Gone is the red, no contact jersey that quarterbacks wear. Now, Steward’s no. 11 jersey is white—he’s now fair game for tacklers.
“The guys will try to test me,” Steward said. “They think I’m just a soft quarterback. I want to try and let them know that’s not what I am.”
Steward, a redshirt freshman who sports a tatoo of his hometown St. Louis on his left arm, has made the switch from quarterback to tight end and has been taking a lot of the snaps with the first team offense. He was slowed by a bruised shoulder last week at the open practice but figured to be in the mix for playing time when the season opened next Saturday against Florida International.
“I’m picking everything up pretty good, everything is pretty much just second nature, just learning the blocking schemes and everything,” Steward said. “The toughest thing has been getting that physical mentality, coming from being a quarterback. You have to kind of get a meanness about yourself.”
At 6 feet 4 and 228 pounds, his body seems more suited for a tight end than a quarterback. And with the departure of Derek Fine, a fourth-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills, the Jayhawks are looking for a new tight end. Sophomore Bradley Dedeaux and true freshman Nick Plato are competing for playing time as well.
“He’s doing well,” Mangino said of Steward. “He’s learning on the run but he absorbs things. He’s a tenacious competitor. He doesn’t take crap from anyone out there. He’s a competitive guy.”
Steward was named All-Metro as a quarterback during his senior year at Riverview Gardens when he had 33 touchdowns (22 passing, 11 rushing) and passed and rushed for more than 1,000 yards each. As a defensive back, he was named to the All-State First Team after intercepting seven passes.
If more proof was needed that Steward was a gifted athlete, he was named All-Conference in both baseball and basketball and was an honorable mention All-State basketball selection as well.
Mangino and offensive coordinator Ed Warinner met with Steward during the winter about the position change after it became apparent that his chances were slim at the quarterback position. He had fallen to fourth on the depth chart behind Todd Reesing, Kerry Meier and freshman Kale Pick.
“We just felt like you can only play one quarterback and you need one quality backup so let’s see what else he can do,” Warinner said. “When we recruited him, in our minds all along, we knew that he had versatility. If he could become the number one or two quarterback then he would stay there, but if that didn’t happen, we were going to try and test him out somewhere else.”
Steward’s teammates voted him the funniest player on the team but is also, as Mangino said, one of the most competitive.
“I’m a different person when I get on the field,” Steward said. “I hate losing. I guess you could say I’m a sore loser. I just want to win at all times and I hate losing. I just want to help the team and do whatever I can do to help the team be successful.”
That chance looks to come this fall. Mangino and Warinner both said they expect Steward to contribute to the offense this season.
— —Edited by Brenna Hawley
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