ArDarius Stewart emerges as big-play threat for Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (TNS) — A month ago, fresh off Alabama’s lone loss this season and the season-ending injury to receiver Robert Foster, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban specifically pointed to one player he needed to see step up.

“We have to get ArDarius Stewart playing with more consistency,” Saban said Sept. 21. “He has the capability of making big plays and he has made some plays, but we certainly need some of our young players to show some progress so they can play.”

Since then, the receiver who made the most strides has been true freshman Calvin Ridley, who emerged as Alabama’s next star receiver and has drawn comparisons to former Tide standouts Amari Cooper and Julio Jones.

While Ridley continued to shine, Alabama senior quarterback Jake Coker didn’t forget Stewart. The speedy sophomore reaffirmed that confidence with a breakout performance in Saturday’s 19-14 win over Tennessee, including making several key catches on a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives.

“ArDarius, he plays his heart out every game, does everything as hard as he can do it, and I love that guy,” Coker said after the game. “He’s one of those guys that really helps me during the games, on and off the field really. Just the way he plays and, with our relationship, it means a lot to me. I’m proud of the way he played today.”

Stewart finished with a season-high 114 receiving yards on six catches, three of which went for a combined 70 yards in the fourth quarter. Included was a leaping 29-yard grab on the second play of Alabama’s go-ahead touchdown drive with five minutes remaining.

Stewart’s final catch — during which he had to adjust and jump over Volunteers cornerback Justin Martin on a fade route — instantly infused life into a Tide offense that watched their Tennessee counterparts race down the field 75 yards in four plays to pull ahead 14-13 on a 12-yard touchdown run from running back Jalen Hurd.

“He made some great plays for us,” Alabama junior tight end O.J. Howard said of Stewart. “We need him to continue to do that, and I know he will.”

After initially being reviewed, the 29-yard completion to Stewart helped set the stage for another big fade, this one for 15 yards to Ridley three plays later, before Tide tailback Derrick Henry closed the door on Tennessee with a 14-yard touchdown run with 2 1/2 minutes left to play.

Stewart also came through with back-to-back big plays on Alabama’s previous scoring drive when he caught a 15-yard completion on third-and-11 to cross midfield, then had a 26-yard catch on first-and-20 after a holding call moved the Tide out of field goal range.

According to many of his teammates, Saturday’s performance is the kind of game many have expected from Stewart all season long.

“I just know ArDarius is a playmaker, and I know that when we need him, he’s going to be there for us,” senior slot receiver Richard Mullaney said last month.

Still, despite leading the team in receptions and targets through the first five weeks of the season, it’s been clear in recent weeks that Ridley has become Alabama’s go-to receiving option, leading the team in most receiving categories with 25 catches for 350 yards over the previous four weeks entering Saturday’s game with Tennessee.

Stewart, meanwhile, had fallen off considerably, to the point of having eight catches for 105 yards during that span, including a single four-yard reception a week ago at Texas A&M.

While praising Ridley’s play earlier this month, Saban used the opportunity to send a message to the rest of his receivers to step up their games along with the talented freshman.

“We just need to get more guys at the receiver position to have that kind of confidence and that kind of consistency,” Saban said the Monday after Ridley broke out with a team-high five catches for 120 yards against Georgia, “that kind of preparation, that kind of attention to detail that’s going to have us have more players that can make explosive plays on the perimeter.”

On Saturday, Stewart answered the call, emerging as the big-play receiver his coaches and teammates have known him to be.

“He played great. You know, he’s had a lot of opportunities to make plays and he’s had three or four big plays like that that were just-misses,” Saban said Saturday, “Today he made a great catch and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m sure that’ll help his confidence, but he played really well today.”