An arm and a leg.

Those words echo in Alabama wide receiver ArDarius Stewart’s head every time he steps on the football field, dating back to his youth. They provide motivation for the Crimson Tide redshirt junior and are the source of Stewart’s physicality in the game he loves so much. A physicality that has been on full display in the first two games of the 2016-17 college football season.

An arm and a leg. That’s what was demanded of him from the beginning, and that is where the wideout, who is one of the most physical players on Alabama’s offense, gets the edge he plays with every time he buckles his chinstrap.

“I’ve had that since little league,” Stewart said. “I get it from my Uncle Ray. Rest in peace. He kept me going, kept me motivated and he always told me to bring him back an arm and a leg. So I just keep that mentality, and as I play, I hear him in my head like, ‘OK, now it’s time to get it. Let’s get it, let’s get it. Get me an arm and a leg.’ So I go out there and I play like that.”

Stewart remembers the words of encouragement his uncle repeatedly told him. And if he were to somehow forget them, all he has to do is look down at his taped, right wrist as “RAY” is with him every Saturday in bold, black letters.

Uncle Ray passed away in the spring of Stewart’s senior year at Fultondale (Ala.) High School after a heart attack. But a simple phrase has transformed his nephew into one of the top wide receivers in the Southeastern Conference.

Through two games, Stewart leads the SEC with 203 receiving yards and three touchdowns on only nine receptions. A season ago, the 6-foot-1, 204-pound wideout produced the best No. 2 receiver season for a Nick Saban-led Tide team with 700 yards on 63 catches. He surpassed Julio Jones and Marquis Maze’s team-leading totals from 2009 and 2011, respectively, too.

“ArDarius is a really good competitor, plays hard, plays with a lot of toughness,” Saban said. “He’s very explosive as a player. He’s had some opportunities and made some big plays for us.”

A league-leading three receiving touchdowns will make highlights after the game, but it’s what Stewart does when he doesn’t have the football or when he’s fighting for a few extra yards that’s earned high praise from his teammates.

The fourth-year wideout leads the Crimson Tide with 140 yards after catch, picking up more than half of his 203 receiving yards after looking passes in to begin the season. A tenacious blocker and player that battles for every inch when the ball is in his hands, Stewart is “one of the most physical receivers out there,” according to Alabama senior safety Eddie Jackson.

Several other players share that sentiment, while his fellow receivers feed off the physical tone Stewart sets on the field.

“I call Stew a running back,” Calvin Ridley said. “He’s very physical. he’s a guy who really gets after anybody, linebacker, D-lineman. He’s got great hands, vision. He’s fast. He’s got great ball skills. He really gets after it.”



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Stewart certainly doesn’t shy away from contact, and that’s nothing new for him. A do-it-all athlete in high school, the former four-star prospect played quarterback, but “he was a running quarterback,” former Fultondale head coach Keith Register said. “I wanted him downhill with the football” because Stewart’s head coach knew his goal was to “try to run over somebody.”

When he didn’t have the football, he was doing the same things he’s doing at the college level -- with the same edge.

“That’s why he played multiple positions because he liked to be on the field and do multiple things and be a part of the game,” Register told BamaOnLine. “But him blocking and blocking hard, to him, that’s almost like him scoring when he’s blocking somebody and being physical on a defender. It’s a way that he can score without touching the ball.

“But he was always physical. He played defense in high school, and he loved to hit. Him being physical, that’s ArDarius.”

Stewart finished his career at Fultondale with 138 total touchdowns, and in 2012, he scored 52 touchdowns on receptions, runs and returns. In one of the least-surprising stats, however, the now-receiver registered 55 tackles and two interceptions as a safety during his senior year. Defense came natural to the physical receiver, who lives to hit defenders before they hit him.

“He played a cover-three free safety for us, and he used to run the ally and try to knock somebody out on speed sweeps or any kind of tosses,” Register said. “He just loves the contact of that, and I think he’s just translating that over to wide receiver when he’s blocking somebody. He just loved to make sure everybody knew that he was physical enough to do his job.”

That mentality comes from Uncle Ray and the mindset he and those close to Stewart instilled early on in his life.

“I just want them to feel it more than I do,” Stewart said. “I have to bring it or they’re going to give it to me. That’s how I was raised. You have to hit them before they hit you. When I’m hurtin’, I want them to be hurtin’ more than me.”

When asked about the importance of blocking, though, Stewart explained how it’s all relative. The Crimson Tide has struggled in the run game so far but has the pieces in place to overcome those deficiencies. It’s also up to the receivers to help block for the running backs to change a 10-yard run into a 50-yard run or a touchdown. In turn, the wideouts need the backs to pass protect when Jalen Hurts is trying to throw a deep ball. “It ties in together,” Stewart said.

He has a relentless drive to help his teammates, which makes Stewart an effective blocker. One of his best blocks came last season when Alabama played at Mississippi State. Ridley caught a short pass from Jake Coker and broke free for a 60-yard touchdown. Stewart ran ahead of the speedy Ridley, which is no easy task, to escort him into the end zone as a lead blocker.

“What makes ArDarius so good is that he not only catches the ball, but he blocks every down,” senior tight end O.J. Howard said. “He plays hard every play. He’s one of the best blocking receivers you can see in the nation. Every time the ball is in somebody else’s hands, he wants to see them score just as bad as he wants to score.”

When Stewart takes a jet sweep from Hurts and churns his legs for positive yards or throws his body in the way of defenders trying to tackle Damien Harris in the ground game or Trevon Diggs on a kickoff return, he’s doing the same things he did back in little league. He’s listening to his uncle’s advice and playing with that edge he inherited so many years ago.

“His uncle was a big part of his life,” Register said. “Just coming to games and cheering for him and just really being that good figure for him. Ray had that edge about him. He was very competitive, you could see it in him, as well.”

It’s nothing new. It’s just an attempt to get Uncle Ray an arm and a leg.

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