Aaron Stewart has been playing football and wrestling since he was in kindergarten, so why stop now?
That, in a nutshell, was the thinking that informed the Warren junior’s recent decision to commit to Illinois in both sports.
Stewart can make a case as the state’s premier multi-sport athlete. Also a sprinter in track, he’s the state’s most productive running back and is a defending state champ in wrestling.
It’s the latter sport that first brought him to widespread attention. He’s a four-time Fargo national champ at the youth level and was 86-4 in his first two high-school seasons with a third-place finish in Class 3A at 152 pounds as a freshman and the 3A 157-pound title last season. He’s No. 13 nationally at 175 in the Flowrestling rankings.
“I’ve kind of already been prominent in wrestling the last couple years,” Stewart said.
Then his football profile took off in the Blue Devil’s run-oriented offense. As a sophomore in 2023, the 5-7, 175-pounder ran 239 times for 1,683 yards and 19 touchdowns as Warren went 9-3 and advanced to the Class 8A quarterfinals. Last season, he was up to 343 carries — almost 29 per game — for 2,465 yards and 34 TDs as the Blue Devils were 7-5 with another trip to the 8A quarterfinals.
“This year I just started coming up for football,” Stewart said. “That made it easier bringing [doing two sports in college] up in conversation. …
“At first, I was like, ‘I’m definitely doing wrestling [in college. Now] I’m starting to do better in football, so it may be a conversation to do both.”
Illinois was an easy choice.
“To me, it always seems like home,” Stewart said. “My parents went there, my sister is already going there.”
The fact that Illini football and wrestling are both elite is another plus. Bret Bielema’s football program finished 16th in the final Associated Press poll and Mike Poeta’s wrestling team is 16th in the Flowrestling rankings.
“I’ll be a part of two very good programs,” Stewart said. “I know the coaches really care about me. I’ve been in contact with them basically forever.”
Stewart got into football thanks to his dad, Ryan, who formerly coached at Waukegan and is now an assistant coach at Warren. A football teammate got him into wrestling.
By now, he’s used to the grind of practicing both football and wrestling in the same day.
“At this point, it would be weird not to do both,” he said.
And now it looks like he’ll stay on the two-sport course for a long time.