Terion Stewart returns to BGSU backfield

Terion Stewart reported to fall camp at Bowling Green State University a month ago with a renewed outlook on life and football. Stewart, who was an All-Ohio running back at Sandusky High School, missed the entire 2022 season due to academic and mental health issues. He looks bigger — the 5-foot-7 Stewart says he weighs a solid 218 pounds — and said "everything's going great." "I'm feeling good, healthy," Stewart said earlier this week. "This is probably the healthiest I've ever been, honestly. The running back room keeps pushing me. Everybody is happy I'm back. I'm just trying to be a leader and not fall behind again." Stewart burst onto the college football scene as a freshman in 2020. He ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries in the fourth quarter of a nationally televised game against Kent State. Stewart had solid freshman and sophomore seasons, totaling 707 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. He rejoins a talented running backs room that includes last year's leading rushing, Jaison Patterson, as well as Ta'ron Keith and Nick Mosley. Keith made the most memorable play of BGSU's 2022 season when he caught a pass and ran through and over several Toledo defenders in the final minute to give the Falcons a 42-35 win in the Glass Bowl. Stewart was there — he attended most of the Falcons' games — and joined in the celebration that clinched bowl eligibility for BGSU. "I think I blacked out," Stewart said of the last-second touchdown. "Ta'ron Keith is a great player, he is amazing. In practice he's 100 percent all the time and we all feed off it. I feel like it's gonna be a great year. We've got a lot of people. "Last year I went to most of the games and they were competing. They got way better than last year. They picked up the energy from last year." Stewart lived in Bowling Green last season and said he worked as a camp counselor. "It was just a mental thing," he said about missing the 2022 season. "I had to get back in the right mindset." Stewart is a physical back — his nickname is Da Bully — and he is ready for contact. "I feel like I've gotten faster. Definitely gotten bigger and faster," he said. "Sometimes I don't need a juke, I just wanna go hit for hit." The Falcons, who dropped a 24-19 decision to New Mexico State in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, kick off this season Saturday at Liberty University, which lost 21-19 to Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl. "I think they're super talented," BGSU coach Scot Loeffler said of Liberty. "I put their talent equivalent to a MAC championship type of team. That's why the game came right down to the wire last year with Toledo and Liberty. We're going to have to go and play a game like we played against Toledo. We're going to play our very best football." Stewart, who turns 22 in late November, is up for the challenge. He said he's "not gonna get tackled this year." He'll be running behind a more seasoned offensive line than he worked with two years ago. Loeffler sounds upbeat about the Falcons' running game. "We're much improved," he said. "Having the running backs back help. You'll see some things that are totally different with us right now and it's all predicated on the new personnel that we have." The gregarious Stewart has been highly visible on BGSU football's Twitter account, including doing a backflip and enjoying a root beer float. "I want to be a leader and bring juice and energy," he said. "I've been bringing juice and energy to all the practices, just keeping everybody uplifted. We are here for two hours at a time so you might as well have fun with it. "A lot of people say they don't feel like practicing. Hey, we're already out here. Have fun now. You can't run from it." Stewart is majoring in Human Development and Family Science. The time away made him "want to go even harder." "I'm just glad to be back," he said. "Everybody expects me to do a lot of things and I expect myself to do it, you know?"