Is Cam’Ron Stewart the ‘diamond in the rough’ NFL teams are seeking?
Cam’Ron Stewart wasn’t quite sure how to put his five-year college football journey into words.
A scholarship to play at Rutgers. . . three seasons of fighting for playing time, but getting little . . . a transfer to Temple . . . a knee injury that wrecked his 2024 season . . . an offseason coaching change. . . and finally, a position switch before his senior season. That’s a lot of hurdles to overcome.
“It’s definitely been a ride,” the Governor Mifflin grad said after pondering the question for a moment. “I learned a lot about myself.”
Stewart always believed he could play at a high level. He showed that at Mifflin, where he earned All-State honors and played a critical role in the program’s first district championship in 2020.
He put his vast athletic skills on full display at the Big 33 Classic, where he recorded five hurries, forced a pair of fumbles, and was named Pennsylvania’s MVP in a 20-0 win over Maryland in 2021.
That kind of dominant play didn’t surface again until last fall, when he became a force as an edge rusher for the Owls and earned all-conference honors.
Still, few people gave him a chance to play at the next level when he announced in December he was leaving college ball behind to prepare for the NFL Draft.
That opinion began to change when he put on a show at Temple’s Pro Day last month, recording a 4.56 in the 40, an eye-opening time for a man who goes 6-4 and 250 pounds. Had he been invited to the NFL Combine and posted such a time it would’ve been one of the highest on the board among edge rushers, a coveted commodity in the league.
“He’s a freak,” says his agent Bill Baldini, who was told by scouts present that day that Stewart actually ran a sub-4.50. “You can see the numbers; they’re undeniable.”
As a first-time, full-time starter, playing in a program which attracts little attention, Stewart was a relative unknown entering last season.
Scouts and NFL insiders soon took notice. They saw the numbers he produced after a switch from defensive end to outside linebacker. His pass-rushing metrics were among the highest in the nation, according to Pro Football Focus.
Later this week, as the three-day NFL Annual Selection Meeting as it’s officially called, begins to unfold there might be more than one former Mifflin Bronco selected. Nick Singleton, the record-breaking Penn State tailback, is almost certain to hear his name called. But Stewart? Maybe, just maybe.
“We grew up together,” Stewart says of Singleton. “We always knew something like this would happen. It would be a dream-come-true if we both get in there.”
For Stewart it’s a long-shot, no doubt, but there is a shot. NFL talent evaluators couldn’t care less about All-American honors or stats or which bowl game your team went to; they fall in love with freak athletes who light up stopwatches and Stewart falls into that category.
He looks at Berks Catholic grad Brandon George, who busted out with a huge Pro Day, for inspiration. George never put up impressive stats at the University of Pittsburgh, but the Kansas City Chiefs fell in love with his physical tools and found a home for him.
Stewart is hoping for the same.
“The kid is going to be a great story,” Baldini predicts. “Some team is gonna get this diamond in a rough.”
NFL teams have been calling Stewart and Baldini in recent weeks with more and more frequency.
Last week the hometown Eagles – the team Stewart grew up rooting for — invited him to the NovaCare Complex for a workout. They ran him through defensive line drills, watched how he used his hands, and how he ran to confirm the numbers and film they’ve pored over.
“It was so surreal being there, seeing the entire coaching staff, seeing (Nick) Siriani, the edge coach (Jeremiah Washburn),” he said. “Everybody was surprised at how big I am, and that I can run. I just wanted to showcase my bend (an edge rusher’s ability to dip their shoulder and lean at a sharp angle) and my talents with the pass-rushing stuff. It’s definitely crazy, you know.”
Such a scene would’ve seen unimaginable only a few years ago when Stewart was fighting like mad to get on the field at Rutgers. Now it seems as though things are finally starting to fall into place.
“Wow, the (NFL) dream felt super-far away,” he says of those early college days. “I was buried on the depth chart and I didn’t know what to do. I was out there working my tail off trying to get an opportunity to play.”
All a talented player needs, Baldini says, is “that one season when you catch lightning in a bottle, and you can shoot up the draft boards.”
Stewart experienced that last season in large part because of the position switch. Baldini credits first-year Temple coach K.C. Keeler and his staff for evaluating Stewart and putting him in a position to succeed.
“We always knew he could rush the passer,” Temple outside linebackers coach Chris Raitano told the Philadelphia Inquirer last fall. “From the moment we got here, we knew that was going to be his role. To be 6-foot-5 and be that athletic. . . ”
Stewart opened his final season with the Owls with a sack and two tackles for loss against UMass, then had two sacks and three tackles for loss the next week against Howard.
“I blew up,” Stewart says of his redshirt senior season. “I had the highest pressure rate in the country, my pass rush rating was No. 2 in the country, and my pass rush productivity was No. 1. It was definitely a surreal feeling knowing that God was on my side and knowing that I had the tools to go out there and win.”
If Stewart is not selected during the seven-round draft, which concludes Saturday, there’s a good chance he could be signed as a free agent once the TV lights are switched off. That’s how George found his way to Kansas City, and why Wyomissing’s Max Hurleman is with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I believe I can carve out a role in this next opportunity I’m trying to obtain,” Stewart says. “(Whichever team selects me) will get a pass rush specialist and someone that can definitely set the edge and stop the run as well.
“I’m definitely going to get home and get to the quarterback. (I) just (want to) let them know I’m ready to come and work.”
