Wideout Evan Stewart focused on rest and recovery during week off

Texas A&M sophomore wideout Evan Stewart will be using a much-needed bye week to take care of his body as he prepares for the season's stretch run. In an exclusive interview, Stewart how his recovery plan, how he's seeing opponents game plan for him and much more.

Key notes from Evan Stewart interview

• Of course, because it’s a bye, I feel better physically. The body gets to rest some. I’m ready to get back to work.
   
• I definitely needed this off week. The past two games have been hard, especially on my body. This week is a big treatment week. I’ve been to the treatment room three times today. I’m trying to get my body right so I can play how I usually play and finally feel like myself again.
   
• I know a lot of my opponents know who I am and what I’m capable of when I’m 100 percent. Just off my name, I feel like they know they have to guard me pretty closely. Even when I’m not 100 percent, I’m still explosive and consistent on every route, getting open and catching the rock. I don’t think it changes too much from my game and how I want to play.
   
• I feel like we have a lot, as an offense, that we need to check into and figure out. Defensively, I feel very comfortable and confident in the defense. They’re amazing. Against Alabama and Tennessee, we were in the locker room before the game or on the way there, we were locked in. We knew casually that we were better than them, but we were never going to play like we knew that. We shot ourselves in the foot, of course. A little more in important times could have helped us. Decisions could have been better.
   
• Teams definitely come out with a game plan for me on offense. At halftime, after they’ve seen a little bit, they change it. We’re doing what we’re doing. It gets frustrating at times. We’re trying to execute to the best of our abilities, but they’re everywhere. As an offense, we really have to go back to the drawing board.
   
• Tennessee’s secondary could not handle us at all. We just couldn’t get it clicking.
   
• I’m from Tennessee, and my sister just graduated from Tennessee in 2020. I grew up going to Neyland all the time. Going back there brought back so many memories. I didn’t think I was going to play in the game because of my injury. Being in the stadium when we first got there, I knew I wanted to play. The environment was crazy, especially with the checkerboard. They had the lights too. They had a video of the football team throughout history that was nice too. It was a fun environment, and I would want to play like that again. It reminded me of Kyle Field, and when you step on the field at Kyle, you can feel your feet start shaking too.
   
• I have to get into my social media presence this week because I’ve been locked in for the season. I’ll interact with a few more of my fans and make a few more posts than usual. I’m also just going to kick it at the crib and get ready for South Carolina next week. I’m honestly just ready to get back on the practice field too.
   
• Go back to the spring. Our offense wasn’t sure of how good our defense was. People had their doubts. I was probably the one that knew our defense was cold. I went against a lot of NFL Draft talent last year like Jaylon Jones and Antonio Johnson. I knew the defense was good. When we got through last season, I loved our defense. This year, I can see more leadership and experience from them. I knew Walter Nolen, Bryce Anderson and them were going to take a big step. Demani Richardson is a good football player. You’ve got Fadil Diggs leading the young guys. Taurean York is a hard-working dude, and he wants to get that. Mix that with Edgerrin Cooper, who is athletically gifted and a dawg. I thought we had the best defense from the jump. I like our secondary. Jayvon Thomas was my recruit, so I knew about him before he got here. I had faith in Tony Grimes. Josh DeBerry has heart and plays bigger than his size. Anderson will hit anything and run fast. He’s going to cover, and he’s a ball hawk. We have the right pieces, and I knew it was going to click.
   
• DeBerry’s interception was big. I looked up when it happened like, “Oh snap! I love my defense!”
   
• I think we’ve played two of the best teams in the SEC in the last two weeks. I also feel like we are one of those teams. We just ran into everybody first. LSU is good, and their offense is crazy. I haven’t heard much about their defense. You’ve heard about Alabama’s and Tennessee’s defenses. I wonder about Mississippi State because they had a pretty good defense last year.
   
• My parents listened to Michael Jackson, of course. My dad used to listen to that a lot. “Man In the Mirror” was played a lot. I was a dancer, so I’d watch the TV and try to be him. I’d try and moonwalk like him and listen to “Billie Jean.” I watched all of those videos of him dancing. The closest dancer I’ve seen to MJ is Chris Brown. I was always trying to figure out how MJ was putting his foot down and still gliding.
   
• My sister likes Chris Brown. She really likes Drake. She liked Lil Wayne, Nicki and Rihanna. She went through a gospel phase too. We listened to a lot of that. I used to play “I want to be just like Jesus,” on repeat every time we got in the car when I was little. I just listened to whatever everybody else listened to.