Christian Stewart refused to give up on his dream

PROVO — Christian Stewart grew up in the shadow of LaVell Edwards Stadium. He attended BYU games with his father idolizing John Beck, Curtis Brown and other star players.

He dreamed of someday becoming a BYU quarterback.

“I knew I wanted to play quarterback,” he says. “I just loved the atmosphere at BYU, 64,000 fans in the stadium and that was my dream. That’s what I wanted to do.”

The journey wasn’t easy for the Orem native.

He wasn’t even chosen to be the quarterback of his seventh- and eighth-grade teams and was instead used as a tight end.

“I’ve never really been one to let someone tell me I can’t do something,” he said. “If they tell me I can’t do something I really make it my goal to prove them wrong.”

Once he entered Timpanogos High School he finally received the opportunity to play the position, and by the time he was a senior he was setting records at the school.

He passed for 5,264 yards and 54 touchdowns running the spread offense during his high school career. Players with similar production earned scholarships. Stewart did not.

He didn’t receive any scholarship offers from FBS schools. He was offered scholarships by Weber State, Southern Utah, Snow College and Dixie State. His dream school BYU didn’t offer a scholarship but did offer him preferred walk-on status. That was good enough for Christian when it was time to make up his mind.

“I knew that I was good enough so I wasn’t scared of the competition," he said. "I knew it would be a long road, but I felt that if I paid my dues eventually the opportunities would present themselves.”

After a year at BYU and an LDS mission Stewart hoped to return to BYU but there was still no scholarship. He decided that playing at Snow College would give him the best opportunity to prove what he could do with the hope of returning to BYU after two years with the Badgers.

It was a humbling experience for Stewart. He found himself third on the depth chart during his first year. He watched and waited and by the time he was a sophomore won the starting job.

He threw for 2,800 yards and 37 touchdowns leading the Badgers to an 11-1 record and a bowl win.

“I finished second in the country in touchdowns and was the second-rated quarterback and no offers came. Not one Division I scholarship came. The (BYU) coaches were down at my best game at Snow. I had 450 yards passing and 4 TDs and the BYU coaches were on the sideline and they didn’t say a word to me. I was bitter. That’s the best way to describe it.”

There was one school that was interested in him: The University of Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He made a trip out to the Division II school and strongly considered its offer.

“I was going to sign there,” he said. “I convinced my mom but my dad wouldn’t buy in.”

His father urged him to return to BYU as a student: “He kept telling me you have big things in store for you at BYU," Stewart said.

On the day he was going to sign he sought out one last opinion. He reached out to his mission president’s wife by phone and her advice was the same as his father’s.

“She said, 'Don’t be stupid. You would passing up so much,'” he said.

He decided to pass up the opportunity to play football in South Dakota and he returned to BYU to focus on his accounting degree.

When he returned he ran into BYU strength and conditioning coach Jay Omer at church.

“He cornered me after Sunday school," Stewart said. "I still remember. Everyone had left and he cornered me and told me, 'hey, we need you back on our team. We need three quarterbacks that can run this new offense. We only have two. I’m going into the coaching staff tomorrow and telling them we need you back on our team.'”

The next day Stewart received a call from coach Paul Tidwell and a meeting was arranged with head coach Bronco Mendenhall. He was reinstated on the team.

He was once again buried on the depth chart and relegated to scout-team duty during his junior year, but he brought a different attitude this time around.

“I knew the chances of me playing were slim but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give it my all," Stewart said.

Stewart was still not on scholarship during spring football in 2014 and the temptation of a lucrative internship opportunity at a Los Angeles accounting firm caused him once again to think about giving up football. It would have paid him $10,000, but he gave it up for just one more chance.

“The chips have always been down for me," he said. "I’ve always been the underdog. I wasn’t recruited out of high school. I wasn’t recruited out of Snow and it’s just been fight, fight, fight for me and I don’t mind that. All I need is my brothers on the team.”

With Taysom Hill entrenched as the starter, backups Ammon Olsen and Billy Green decided to transfer. Not only did it give Stewart a long-awaited scholarship, but it also meant he was now the second-string quarterback.

He was one injury away from realizing his dream and sure enough, Hill suffered a broken leg against Utah State. After years of being told he wasn’t good enough his perseverance had finally paid off. His dream became reality.

“At that moment I was so grateful for my preparation," Stewart said. "I knew that I had gained the respect of my teammates and I knew I had prepared myself in a way that I could be successful.”

He still faced adversity. Despite his production at quarterback the team suffered through a four-game losing streak but with each game his confidence continued to grow. He’s passed for 2,090 yards and 22 touchdowns with just three interceptions as a starter. He would lead BYU to a four-game winning streak, including a dramatic come-from-behind win over Cal to end the regular season.

He’s the first BYU quarterback to pass for 400 yards or more in more than one game in a season since Beck in 2006.

He didn’t follow the conventional path to becoming the starting quarterback at BYU, but he is grateful for the journey and the lessons he learned along the way.

“There’s nothing that you can’t accomplish in life," he said. "It’s just how bad do you want it? How hard are you willing to work, especially when the chips are down and people are turning their backs against you telling you that you can’t do it. Are you going to give up? There have been a lot of guys in front of me that transferred and left and that opened the door for me because I wasn’t willing to give up.”

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