Josaiah Stewart names NFL pass rushers he models his game after
Michigan Wolverines junior EDGE Josaiah Stewart is days away from making his team debut after spending the first two seasons of his career at Coastal Carolina. Known as a bendy, disruptive pass rusher, Stewart thinks he can bring something a little different to the rotation.
He has positioned himself for playing time by putting good weight back on and showing off his athleticism in fall camp. Now standing at 6-1, 245 pounds, Stewart hopes that the 17 pounds he put on this offseason help make him a complete player.
“Being able to hold up in the run better, being able to play a longer season healthy and being durable [are the goals],” Stewart said Tuesday night. “I’ve played at this weight before, back in my freshman year, but it’s just getting used to it again after my sophomore year and not playing at that weight. But I feel great. Kept my speed up, which is really important.”
NFL types prefer taller and longer pass rushers, but plenty have made the leap to the next level with similar body types to Stewart. That is what he hopes to emulate and unlock at Michigan.
“You look at guys in a league like Yannick Ngakoue, Haason Reddick, those guys aren’t super tall, but they use their length that they have and their size to their advantage,” Stewart said. “So I study those types of guys because I can relate to them and to their play style. But there’s really no advantage really having that natural leverage getting under them. And imagine even getting even lower, they can’t really block that — especially those big 6-7, 330-pound tackles, they don’t really want to get that low and move their feet that well. So you’ve got to use any and every advantage you have.”
Stewart says that he models his game after Myles Garrett with the Cleveland Browns, even though Garett has three inches and almost 30 pounds of weight on him.
“I can’t really emulate the things that he does. He’s a freak,” Stewart said. “But guys like Haason Reddick and Yannick Ngakoue, back when he was with the Jaguars, those smaller edge rushers that can really bend and use their pad level. I love those guys for sure.”
Some have compared what Stewart brings to that of Josh Uche, who stood at 6-2, 250 pounds and racked up 16.5 sacks in his Michigan career. Uche is now with the New England Patriots and has caught Stewart’s attention.
“Not much at Michigan but I watch his tape in New England,” Stewart said. “Being from Massachusetts, I watch a lot of those games. I can see it, but I gotta just do me.”
