Former Monsignor Pace star Shemar Stewart selected 17th by the Bengals in NFL Draft
For close to a decade, Shemar Stewart has been pegged as one of the next great talents to come out of South Florida. On Thursday in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, the defensive end got his validation.
Stewart, who was a five-star prospect coming out of Monsignor Pace in Miami Gardens three years ago, is headed to the Cincinnati Bengals as the No. 17 overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft. He's the first player picked from the Miami metropolitan area in the 2025 Draft and the second former Spartan drafted in as many years, following James Williams, who was a seventh-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft last year.
Although he never recorded more than 1 1/2 sacks in any of his three seasons with the Texas A&M Aggies, Stewart constantly flashed enough of the talent that made him the No. 9 overall prospect in the Class of 2022, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. The 6-foot-5, 267-pound edge rusher was a third-team All-Southeastern Conference selection last season and led Texas A&M with 39 pressures, despite finishing with only 1 1/2 sacks. Stewart, 21, also set career bests as a junior with 31 tackles, 5 1/2 tackles for loss and his first forced fumble, as well as two passes defended.
As a senior at Monsignor Pace, Stewart was a first-team all-Miami-Dade selection with 85 tackles, 40 tackles for loss and 15 sacks. He was also the No. 1 player in 247's initial rankings for the 2022 recruiting class, racking up offers as early as 2019, before he even started his sophomore year of high school.
This is the third straight year with a lineman from the Miami metro area picked in the first round of the Draft, following Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas alumnus Dallas Turner in the first round of the 2024 Draft and Miami Northwestern alumnus Calijah Kancey in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Stewart's path particularly mirrors Turner's, as both were five-star prospects who went to SEC programs and then became one of the first defenders taken in their respective Draft.
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