Jonathan Stewart
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Jonathan Stewart (born Jonathan Creon Stewart on March 21, 1987 in Fort Lewis, Washington) plays running back for the University of Oregon Ducks in the NCAA college football tournament. Stewart is an athletic player believed to be one of the few Ducks in school history to possess both strength and speed as a rusher. Among his off-the-field feats include a power clean lift of 402 lbs. during the winter of 2007 that was bettered only by NFL lineman Haloti Ngata (407 lbs.) among all-time Oregon football players, bench press of 410 lbs. in 2006 that surpassed all running backs in school history and a 4.34 hand time clocking that is no.4 all-time among the school’s running backs. Ranking ninth on school’s career list for kickoff return yards (1,050 yds.) and second in terms of average (30.0-yard) in school annals entering his third season, Stewart has widened his craft so to speak as through the years he has improved on his catching and ball-handling as he recorded only four fumbles in 2006 while handling the football a team-high 226 times.
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Personal Life
Jonathan is one of two children of Jonathan Stewart and Lora Faison, who divorced when he was only 13. He joined a flag football team in fifth grade where he began to emulate his idol Barry Sanders. In terms of education, Stewart is a Political Science major.
High School
Stewart played for the Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington and in his four years of play has amassed 7,755 yards rushing and 95 touchdowns, reaching the 1000+ rush yard mark in each of his four seasons. His feat earned him recognition from several organizations including being named by the Seattle Times as the state’s fifth-greatest running back of all time just behind former Oregon great Bobby Moore (i.e. Ahmad Rashad) and was also listed at the top of the nation’s list of running back recruits on Parade magazine’s All-America team, Student Sports Hot 100 list as well as PrepStar’s Top 100 Dream Team. During his final year, he registered 2,301 yards rushing with 32 TD runs and an average of 11.3 yards per carry. Named one of the finalists for the Walter Payton Trophy (nation’s top prep player), Stewart also earned the Washington Class 3A offensive co-player of the year (WashingtonPrep.com) and state Gatorade Player-of-the-Year awards and was named into the 2004 All-USA high school football team by USA Today, the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s Best in the West first team, the 2005 Northwest Nuggets by The Tacoma News Tribune and as an EA Sports All-American. To top it all, he was invited to play at the 2005 U.S. Army All-American Bowl and was also named The News Tribune’s 2004-05 High School Male Athlete of the Year.
College
Aside from Oregon, several high profile schools showed interest in Stewart, including USC, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Stewart's phenomenal athletic ability has him high on NFL scouts' radar screens. Stewart has been hand-timed at 4.34 seconds in the 40 yard dash, has bench pressed 410 pounds, and has a 38.5 inch vertical leap (second in school history).
2005
Stewart made his debut off the bench as a reliever to Oregon's three-year starter but nonetheless made an immediate impact by collecting a season-high 47 yards. The following week, he returned the opening kickoff for an 83-yard touchdown against Montana but suffered an ankle injury that same game to sideline him for two weeks.His biggest game during his freshman year came against Oregon State where he returned a kick-off 97 yards into the endzone (tie for 4th longest in school history) to score his second TD off a kick-off in a season which is a first for the school's football program. He also had a single-game best 189 all-purpose yards, 152 of which came from three kickoff returns, earning him the Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Week. He finished the season as the team's third-leading rusher, the third-leading scorer (54 points) and has average of 8.8 all-purpose yards with nine touchdowns (six rushing, one receiving, and two kickoff returns) on 72 touches.
2006
Despite playing with an ankle injury for most of the season, Stewart still managed to start 12 games and emerge as Oregon's leading rusher, fifth in the Pac-10, and 46th nationally. He was also ranked second in all-purpose yardage (136.2 avg. - 17th in the country) and first in kickoff returns (6th in the nation). Stewart also eclipsed the 100-yard mark in five games (Oregon was 5-0 when Stewart rushed for 100 or more yards), including a collegiate-best 168-yard effort against Stanford (where he also collected a career-high 222 all-purpose yards). In the season finale against Oregon State, Stewart rushed for 94 yards with a career-high three rushing touchdowns while returning three kick-offs for an average of 43.3 yards. He concluded his sophomore year with 10 rushing touchdowns and added one scoring catch.
2007
Stewart, Oregon’s 11th different 1,000-yd rusher, was named to the Maxwell Award Watch list. He posted career single-game high 251 yards on collegiate-best 32 carries at Washington, then recorded a career single-game high 310 all-purpose yards against Stanford. He currently stands 7th on school’s career rushing list (2,212) & 6th in all-time all-purpose yds (3,928).
Highlights
| Post-game Interview. Jonathan Stewart talks to the media after the Ducks trounced Nebraska, 55-34 at the Husky Stadium. |
Achievements
- 2007 Maxwell Award watch list
- 2006 Second-team All-conference
