Meet Tre Stewart, the Vikings’ unheralded scoring machine trying to stick at running back

Tre Stewart was 6 years old when he scored the first of what he has ballparked at “more than 200” touchdowns in a 16-year, under-the-radar career that has led him from the dusty Pop Warner fields of Winston-Salem, N.C., to the pristine palace that is the Vikings’ TCO Performance Center.

“I was a chubby 6-year-old,” said the undrafted rookie listed at 5-8, 186. “They had me playing D-tackle.”

Stewart asked to play running back, too. And the rest is a lot of history that’s unfolded beyond the goal line.

Eight players in Division I football scored 20 or more rushing touchdowns in 2024. Six of them were drafted by NFL teams, including Ashton Jeanty, who went sixth overall to the Raiders. One of them, Army quarterback Bryson Daily, signed a five-year deal with the United States of America as an infantry officer.

And then there’s Tre Stewart, who once again was unwanted by pretty much everyone despite helping Jacksonville State to its first Conference USA title while rushing for 1,638 yards, a 5.9-yard average and 25 touchdowns that ranked third nationally behind only Daily (32) and Jeanty (29).

“Before the draft, I talked to the Patriots and the 49ers, and that was about it,” Stewart said. “The Vikings didn’t talk to me. But the draft ended and the Vikings came together as the best fit. I could have gone to Detroit or Cleveland, but the Vikings’ offense — the way they run the ball with the zone scheme — is how we did things at Jacksonville State.”

When asked what drew the Vikings to Stewart, coach Kevin O’Connell said the words “explosiveness” and “physicality” and compared Stewart’s traits to those of receiver Tai Felton, the rookie third-round pick with the 4.37 speed.

Now it’s up to Stewart to push fourth-year pro Ty Chandler for No. 3 reps behind Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, and on special teams, where Chandler is the forgettable incumbent kick returner. Chandler hasn’t missed a game the past two years, but his stock has fallen from 102 carries and 307 offensive snaps (27%) in 2023 to 56 carries and 153 offensive snaps (14%) in 2024.

“I can return kicks, too, if they want me to,” Stewart said. “I did it my freshman year in college. But then they didn’t want me getting hurt on kickoffs.”

Stewart’s freshman, sophomore and junior seasons were spent at Division II Limestone University in Gaffney, S.C.

“I had two offers coming out of high school,” Stewart said.

Both were DII schools. The other was Salem State.

“I really thought I’d get more,” Stewart said.

Probably because his senior season at Winston-Salem Prep went like this — 3,538 total yards and 46 touchdowns.

But …

“I was like 160 pounds at about 5-8, so teams overlooked me,” Stewart said. “I think I scored like 75 touchdowns in high school. But that’s OK. My favorite memory so far in football is helping Limestone make the playoffs [2022] a year after we went 0-9.”

In 32 games at Limestone, Stewart scored 29 touchdowns. In 2023, he topped 100 yards rushing eight times and 200 yards twice. A year earlier, he ran for 320 yards and touchdowns of 82, 56 and 20 yards on only 21 carries (15.2) in a win over UVA-Wise.

“It felt like any other game,” said Stewart, “until after it was over and they told me how many yards I had.”

Stewart loved Limestone but wanted to prove he could make the leap to Division I. And he did. Now, he’s got a much bigger leap ahead of him.

Stewart didn’t practice Friday when the Vikings opened the first of a three-day rookie minicamp. He practically begged the coaching staff to let him practice, but the medical staff benched him because of an illness Stewart said isn’t serious.

“I could have practiced,” he said. “But they knew what they’re doing.”

Stewart’s strengths are his vision, one-cut explosion through the hole and contact balance despite his small frame. The biggest question mark is how a guy this size can protect franchise quarterback J.J. McCarthy if called upon in the passing game.

“We have a good example of that right in our room with Aaron Jones [5-9, 208] being one of the best pass-protecting, quote-unquote, ‘every-down’ backs we have in the league,” O’Connell said. “He’s not necessarily the biggest, strongest guy, but show me a guy who is doing some of the things that Aaron does.”

Stewart said he worked extra hard on the fundamentals of pass protection at Jacksonville State even though the Gamecocks employ an almost exclusively “ground-and-pound” offense.

“I knew the only way I can make it to the NFL was if I can pass protect,” Stewart said.

With that, Stewart looked up at the Vikings’ monstrous facility and down at his purple No. 38 jersey. He was asked how much Vikings history he knew.

“I know Adrian Peterson,” he said. “I know Justin Jefferson. After that, I’m hoping to be around awhile to learn about all the rest.”