Cole commits to Guelph
Cole Stewart can thank some chipped front teeth for his football career.
His dentist was a mom of a kid trying out for the Niagara minor football’s Welland Tiger-Cats and she told him to go watch the tryouts while the numbing in his mouth wore off.
“My dad told me to go out there and I just hopped on the field. It was fun and I loved it,” the 18-year-old Welland resident said.
He was seven or eight when he made his first football team. That unusual start was the beginning of a career that saw him develop to the point where he was signing Tuesday to play post secondary ball for the Guelph Gryphons.
In addition to suiting up for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Stewart played for the Tiger-Cats and St. Catharines Seahawks in minor football and in travel football with the Niagara Generals and the Niagara Spears.
At Notre Dame, he started off in Grade 10 as an offensive lineman before eventually moving over to play middle linebacker the past two seasons for the Irish senior squad.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder believes he has taken good steps in his game over the past season.
“I feel like I understood our concepts better at Notre Dame and how we move with the ball better.”
Stewart has also developed his skill and aggression on the field.
“It is a big thing and it helps out a lot. You know what you are doing and you are prepared for anything.”
A couple of schools other than Guelph also expressed an interest in him but the 12B student was most interested in becoming a Gryphon.
“As soon as I started talking to them I liked it right away and thought that I wanted to go there. When I went to combines and game days, the community was great and I like where the team is going. It felt like a family.”
The future criminology and justice major, who one day wants to become a police officer, has been talking with Guelph since Grade 11.
He has straightforward goals for his first year at Guelph.
“I want to help out the team and make as much of an impact as I can.”
He plans to work hard to be ready for training camp in 2025.
“I’m going to learn the plays when I get them, stay in the weight room and do a lot of cardio.”
He is looking forward to the whole experience.
“It will be fun going to a new school and playing with people I grew up with like Marshall (McCray) and (Jake) Tessier and all of them.”
Other Notre Dame alumni on the roster are Jarod Tessier and Emmett Cosby.
Guelph’s Niagara recruiter John Casasanta is happy to have Stewart signed.
“He stands out with his size and physicality right off the hop. When you see a big guy like that in the middle, automatically you want to keep an eye on him and see how he does. He moves well, he is aggressive and he made some big plays. He had a Pick 6. He was on a defence that was strong and he was one of the reasons why.”
Casasanta is not completely sure where Stewart will end up playing.
“If you look at him from the feet up, he is only going to get bigger which is an interesting idea because depending on how big he does get, where does he play at the next level. He might play off the edge as an end player instead of a linebacker.”
