Colorado State University Athletics
Stewart Zeros in on Healthy, Productive Season
3/11/2021 12:00:00 PM | Football, RamWire
Senior a key part of improving the secondary
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For starters, Logan Stewart wasn't at 100 percent.
Still, there was a season approaching – his senior campaign – so he wasn't going to miss it. He did his best to take care of his body. Did the rehab, the stretches, the whole buffet line of feel-good remedies.
Then there wasn't going to be a season. Of if there was, maybe in the spring. The pandemic was up to its normal tricks, so Stewart too the logical step to fixing what ailed him – surgery to repair his labrum.
Then, wouldn't you know it? There's gonna be a season after all. In the fall.
So Stewart started the process all over again.
"He's a great kid. People don't know what he was dealing with last year," Colorado State defensive coordinator Chuck Heater said. "He had groin surgery at a point where we didn't think we were going to play, then next thing you know, were playing. Trying to get him back and become functional, he was just never really healthy. It affected his play and how he practiced and he got through it."
Tough kid. He started as a walk-on, then he earned a starting job at safety and a scholarship to boot. That quickly. He's the type of kid he wasn't going to let anything hold him back, not even surgery.
As a junior, he was third on the team with 76 tackles and a pair of interceptions in a win over Fresno State. He was on the right track and only getting better. Then a coaching change and a new defense. That introduction he made to his new coach, the one where he wasn't going to let surgery rehab get in his way, made an impression.
"I think it's important to Logan. He's a very analytical guy to me," head coach Steve Addazio said. "He sometimes takes awhile to get going, but I think he's very comfortable right now with what we're doing on defense and what we're doing on special team. He's really starting to show in practice. I'm excited about him. I think he's going to have a great year."
Even Stewart has to admit it all caught up to him a bit. He was still fourth on the team with 26 tackles in the four games played, but he just didn't feel the same. The physical slowed down the aggressiveness, too.
It wasn't abotu what he was seeing, it was about getting his body to do what the mind knew had to be done. And when the body won't produce the quick-twitch the mind is asking for, it can get frustrating.
"It's letting the clutch out. I was a little hesitant, favoring some of the injuries, whether it was getting out of breaks or being physical," Stewart said. "Now it's just me recognizing I'm healthy and I can let it rip."
This spring is already starting to feel different for him. He's more comfortable in Heater's system, which is good, because Heater also serves as his position coach. He needs to be a leader, as the secondary is a mix of experience and youth with a few transfers thrown into the mix.
They need Stewart at his best. As a leader and as a player.
"He's really focused on having a great year," Heater said. "He's healthy now, and he's really focused on having that great. Year. Two years ago he played really well the second half of the season, and he was a pretty good player at that point. We need to get him back to be healthy, and that will be a significant part of that."
The Loveland product likes his role. Not just the returning starter, but as a guy who can help mold and shape the future at his position. He feels the secondary is starting to bond, and he's liked the influx of new blood in cornerback Linwood Crump and even true freshman safety Jack Howell who arrived early.
Crump, he said, plays as if he's been here for two years. Howell, he loves the fact he's a sponge when it comes to absorbing the system and the techniques.
Stewart is feeling the pull of getting back to being himself to help them and the defense as a whole.
"Always. I want to be the best player I can be. If you want to be great, there's always going to be a little pressure on yourself to be great and live up to those expectations," he said. "I don't think it's going to hinder me. It really just adds more motivation than anything.
"I think getting a whole year of our defense installed and going back over it has helped me tremendously be able to understand the reads and play faster as a whole."
This spring, Stewart feels good, and he's sensing his injury concerns will soon completely be a thing of the past.
That's good news, for him, and for the secondary. Even with a strong pass rush in front of them, Heater expected more, and most definitely in third-and-long situations, where the Rams found themselves giving up big chunks of first-down yardage much to Heater's chagrin.
"We weren't good enough last year in the backend. That needs to be significantly improved," Heater said. "The good news is we've got guys coming back who played last year, and you can improve the player that was here, and that's great. We've got some good young players in here, as well. Hopefully they'll improve and we'll get better by playing other guys. It's good to have some people to pick from. We took some corners, and that's a good thing, plus having everybody back. We're still evaluating where we're at, but we've got to get better. We were not good enough in the back end."
Stewart includes himself as part of the issue, injuries or not. He expects to not only get back to the player he was, but be better than he's ever been.
That's his drive, and with that comes with rebuilding the technique he knows he should use, rather than the skills he was limited to a season ago.
"I feel like day by day I'm getting better and better and getting back into that form," he said. "I had to get out of the bad habits of being injured, of playing a certain style of football. I think getting coached really hard has been a great thing, and I definitely can see myself getting back to there pretty soon."
Because there's a season coming. Nobody senses it will be taken away again, or even altered. And Stewart, well, he expects to be fully prepared to take it on at full strength.
Still, there was a season approaching – his senior campaign – so he wasn't going to miss it. He did his best to take care of his body. Did the rehab, the stretches, the whole buffet line of feel-good remedies.
Then there wasn't going to be a season. Of if there was, maybe in the spring. The pandemic was up to its normal tricks, so Stewart too the logical step to fixing what ailed him – surgery to repair his labrum.
Then, wouldn't you know it? There's gonna be a season after all. In the fall.
So Stewart started the process all over again.
"He's a great kid. People don't know what he was dealing with last year," Colorado State defensive coordinator Chuck Heater said. "He had groin surgery at a point where we didn't think we were going to play, then next thing you know, were playing. Trying to get him back and become functional, he was just never really healthy. It affected his play and how he practiced and he got through it."
Tough kid. He started as a walk-on, then he earned a starting job at safety and a scholarship to boot. That quickly. He's the type of kid he wasn't going to let anything hold him back, not even surgery.
As a junior, he was third on the team with 76 tackles and a pair of interceptions in a win over Fresno State. He was on the right track and only getting better. Then a coaching change and a new defense. That introduction he made to his new coach, the one where he wasn't going to let surgery rehab get in his way, made an impression.
"I think it's important to Logan. He's a very analytical guy to me," head coach Steve Addazio said. "He sometimes takes awhile to get going, but I think he's very comfortable right now with what we're doing on defense and what we're doing on special team. He's really starting to show in practice. I'm excited about him. I think he's going to have a great year."
Even Stewart has to admit it all caught up to him a bit. He was still fourth on the team with 26 tackles in the four games played, but he just didn't feel the same. The physical slowed down the aggressiveness, too.
It wasn't abotu what he was seeing, it was about getting his body to do what the mind knew had to be done. And when the body won't produce the quick-twitch the mind is asking for, it can get frustrating.
"It's letting the clutch out. I was a little hesitant, favoring some of the injuries, whether it was getting out of breaks or being physical," Stewart said. "Now it's just me recognizing I'm healthy and I can let it rip."
This spring is already starting to feel different for him. He's more comfortable in Heater's system, which is good, because Heater also serves as his position coach. He needs to be a leader, as the secondary is a mix of experience and youth with a few transfers thrown into the mix.
They need Stewart at his best. As a leader and as a player.
"He's really focused on having a great year," Heater said. "He's healthy now, and he's really focused on having that great. Year. Two years ago he played really well the second half of the season, and he was a pretty good player at that point. We need to get him back to be healthy, and that will be a significant part of that."
The Loveland product likes his role. Not just the returning starter, but as a guy who can help mold and shape the future at his position. He feels the secondary is starting to bond, and he's liked the influx of new blood in cornerback Linwood Crump and even true freshman safety Jack Howell who arrived early.
Crump, he said, plays as if he's been here for two years. Howell, he loves the fact he's a sponge when it comes to absorbing the system and the techniques.
Stewart is feeling the pull of getting back to being himself to help them and the defense as a whole.
"Always. I want to be the best player I can be. If you want to be great, there's always going to be a little pressure on yourself to be great and live up to those expectations," he said. "I don't think it's going to hinder me. It really just adds more motivation than anything.
"I think getting a whole year of our defense installed and going back over it has helped me tremendously be able to understand the reads and play faster as a whole."
This spring, Stewart feels good, and he's sensing his injury concerns will soon completely be a thing of the past.
That's good news, for him, and for the secondary. Even with a strong pass rush in front of them, Heater expected more, and most definitely in third-and-long situations, where the Rams found themselves giving up big chunks of first-down yardage much to Heater's chagrin.
"We weren't good enough last year in the backend. That needs to be significantly improved," Heater said. "The good news is we've got guys coming back who played last year, and you can improve the player that was here, and that's great. We've got some good young players in here, as well. Hopefully they'll improve and we'll get better by playing other guys. It's good to have some people to pick from. We took some corners, and that's a good thing, plus having everybody back. We're still evaluating where we're at, but we've got to get better. We were not good enough in the back end."
Stewart includes himself as part of the issue, injuries or not. He expects to not only get back to the player he was, but be better than he's ever been.
That's his drive, and with that comes with rebuilding the technique he knows he should use, rather than the skills he was limited to a season ago.
"I feel like day by day I'm getting better and better and getting back into that form," he said. "I had to get out of the bad habits of being injured, of playing a certain style of football. I think getting coached really hard has been a great thing, and I definitely can see myself getting back to there pretty soon."
Because there's a season coming. Nobody senses it will be taken away again, or even altered. And Stewart, well, he expects to be fully prepared to take it on at full strength.
Tuesday, May 13
Wednesday, April 17
Thursday, April 20
Thursday, December 15