South Carolina's opener against Kent State was already going to be a get-right game for a Gamecocks squad with bigger fish to fry, but it just got a little more complicated. Shane Beamer told ESPN's Pete Thamel that neither Dylan Stewart nor Jacarrius Peak will suit up this weekend, leaving two of the most important pieces of both lines of scrimmage in street clothes for Week 1.
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer told ESPN he does not expect star DE Dylan Stewart (back) or prized LT transfer Jacarrius Peak (knee) to play against Kent State this weekend. He added both are ramping up to return, as Peak will do “more this morning than he’d done all year” in practice.
Stewart's absence stings the most for a defense that leaned on him as a difference-maker last season, when he racked up 33 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles despite playing through the same back issue that's kept him out of spring ball. He's a name that's already showing up in top-10 NFL Draft conversations, which makes every missed snap this fall worth tracking closely.
Peak's injury is a different animal entirely — a knee injury suffered playing pickup basketball back in February, well before he ever got to camp with his new team. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound tackle arrived in Columbia as a big portal win, picking South Carolina over Alabama after four seasons and 32 starts at NC State, ranked as the No. 3 transfer tackle available. Losing him at left tackle for the opener is a real hit to a line trying to gel.
He said Stewart “will be cleared for contact soon and then he’ll be ready to roll.” South Carolina plays Towson Week 2 and Mississippi State Week 3.
The silver lining, per Beamer, is that neither injury sounds like a long-term concern. Stewart is expected to be cleared for contact soon, and Peak reportedly did more in practice this week than he had all offseason. Beamer's timeline points both players toward a return well before the calendar flips to conference play.
That matters because South Carolina's actual season starts in Week 3, not Week 1. Kent State and Towson are appetizers before the Gamecocks open SEC play at home against Mississippi State — and that's the game both Stewart and Peak are being built back up to play in. If the ramp-up holds, Beamer gets his best pass rusher and his new left tackle back right as the schedule gets real.