- Stewart excels at making defenders miss: Top-10 draft choose Ashton Jeanty led the nation in pressured missed tackles per try final season, and Stewart was proper behind him in second place.
- Why Stewart is a promising prospect: PFF’s steady metrics, of which missed tackles pressured per try is one, predict future success and are almost definitely to translate from yr to yr — together with from faculty to the NFL.
- Subscribe to PFF+: Get entry to participant grades, PFF Premium Stats, fantasy soccer rankings, all the PFF fantasy draft analysis instruments and extra!
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Scouting for the 2026 NFL Draft continues to be in its infancy. Nearly a yr separates us from the following crop of NFL prospects listening to their names referred to as, but it surely’s by no means too early to dig into the numbers and pinpoint diamonds within the tough.
PFF premium stats is a method to take action. The database goes past simply the frequent numbers, offering contextualized steady and unstable metrics for every place.
One participant who stands out early within the course of is Virginia Tech working again Terion Stewart, previously of Bowling Green.
Stewart was a three-star recruit within the 2019 recruiting class. His first yr at Bowling Green was the COVID-shortened season, however he nonetheless led the crew in dashing yards as a real freshman. In 2021, he began 5 video games and missed three on account of harm. Stewart sat out the 2022 marketing campaign to “focus extra on [his] well being and educational duties” however returned in 2023 and instantly took over as a backfield weapon for the following two seasons. With one yr of eligibility remaining, he transferred to Virginia Tech for the 2025 season, the place he’ll substitute draft choose Bhayshul Tuten.
When we consider working backs, PFF’s missed tackles pressured per try metric is invaluable in judging a participant impartial of their offensive line. And that is the place Stewart shines.
The statistic is strictly what it appears like: Whether it’s from a juke transfer, a stiff arm or a decreasing of the shoulder, it encapsulates how usually a participant eludes a possible deal with. The fantastic thing about the metric is that it doesn’t actually matter how good the offensive line is; a working again can drive a missed deal with behind the road of scrimmage, on the line of scrimmage and past the road of scrimmage. Of course, attending to area on the second degree makes it simpler to rack up pressured missed tackles, so some context is useful to evaluate a again’s talents.
Ashton Jeanty, the sixth-overall choose within the 2025 NFL Draft, led the FBS with a 0.41 missed tackles pressured common final season. Stewart was proper behind him, putting second with a 0.40 common. In 2023, Stewart paced the nation within the metric (0.63), effectively forward of earlier seasons’ leaders: Trey Benson (0.51, 2022), Bijan Robinson (0.40, 2021) and Javonte Williams (0.48, 2020). The common takeaway is that something above 0.40 in a season is an unimaginable mark.
Stewart has hit or surpassed 0.40 missed tackles pressured per try not simply as soon as, however thrice, with 2021 rounding out his trifecta. In a five-year pattern measurement of each FBS working again with at the very least 70 carries (greater than 1,100 gamers), Stewart owns the first-, seventh- and Thirty second-ranked averages in a single season.
Highest Averages Since 2020 | FBS Running Backs
| Player, Team | Year | Forced Missed Tackles/Att. |
| 1. Terion Stewart, Bowling Green | 2023 | 0.63 |
| 2. Trey Benson, Florida State | 2022 | 0.51 |
| T-3. Ramon Jefferson, Sam Houston | 2021 | 0.50 |
| T-3. Isaiah Ifanse, California | 2023 | 0.50 |
| 5. Roschon Johnson, Texas | 2022 | 0.49 |
The stat can also be a steady metric, which predicts future success from yr to yr. In different phrases, if a participant is nice at making tacklers miss in faculty, they’ve a powerful probability of doing so within the NFL, even with a built-in dip in charge due to the bump in expertise. The reverse is true, too.
The soar in competitors for Stewart within the ACC needs to be enjoyable to observe, particularly for the reason that Hokies simply helped Tuten rush for greater than 1,100 yards in 2024. Just primarily based on his tackle-eluding capacity alone, Stewart is a reputation to know heading into the school soccer season and the 2026 NFL Draft.