By Will Vandervort.

If you don’t know where Tony Steward has been the last two years then you really are not paying close attention to Clemson’s football team.

“When he has gotten in and played, he has played well. I know where he has been,” Clemson defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brent Venables said.

He has mostly been on special teams. In each of the last two year’s Steward has been named the special teams player of the year, where he has recorded most of his 68 career tackles. The rest of the time he backed up linebacker Spencer Shuey, where he learned what it takes to be a starter for Venables.

Now, in his final year as a Tiger, Steward is in position to become a full-time starter.

“He has been very consistent and he has been the most consistent player there,” Venables said after Saturday’s scrimmage in Death Valley. “He has had a good fall camp.”

It’s amazing Steward is even in camp or playing football at all. During his senior year of high school, he tore his ACL, which caused him to miss spring drills that year. When he finally got back and started to play a little bit, he tore his ACL, again and was out for the rest of the season and that following spring.

“Anybody that has had an ACL injury—and not only one but two—would know what a tough kid and young man he must be to come back from that. And not only come back, but have the kind success he has had since he has come back.”

Venables says Steward had a great spring and followed that up with an impressive summer and has since had a great first week of training camp.

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“We are counting on him to have a really good year there and I think that he will based on what I have seen,” the Clemson coach said.

For Steward, he says he is trying to master his craft and get in the best position possible to help Clemson win on Saturday afternoons.

“I feel like I keep getting better every day and I just keep working hard,” he said. “That’s my goal. I want to be the best player I can at this position. Whatever that leads to then I’m happy with that because I know I am giving it my all.”

Because he is giving it his all, Steward has motivated those around him, including fellow weakside linebacker Ben Boulware, who came into camp vying for the starting job as well.

“It’s awesome because first of all he makes me work harder and second of all I make him work harder so all-and-all that pretty much makes us better players,” Steward said. “We are helping to make the defense better. If we continue to play hard and keep getting better than it leads to a good performance on the field.”

And that’s the kind of leader Venables wants on his defense.

“Tony is not a good leader, he is a great leader,” Venables said. “He has been incredibly consistent and there is no doubt in my mind we will win with Tony Steward on the field.”