After $10,000 donation to high school, USC’s Jahkeem “Thanos” Stewart issues strong message for fans

Jahkeem "Thanos" Stewart gained attention following his donation to his former high school. He gave a check of $10,000 to Edna Karr High School from his holding company.

On Saturday, Stewart responded to this praise with a message to his fan on Instagram.

"If you knew half of my story, you'll understand how much this means to me," he said.

Stewart moved from St Augustine High School to Edna Carr during the 2024 season. According to state rules, he is ineligible to play for his new school in the 2024 season. Stewart's ineligibility prompted him to reclassify from the class of 2026 to the class of 2025, therefore beginning college one year sooner.

Stewart was set to be the number one ranked prospect in the 2026 class, and while he was ranked lower in the 2025 class, he is still a strong prospect who should be able to make a difference in Lincoln Riley's Trojans team.

USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley on Jahkeem Stewart

This will be the first season for Jahkeem Stewart in college football, and there are high expectations for the defensive lineman with USC. After they signed him, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said the following about the player:

"Jahkeem is someone that we targeted very early on, the tough thing was so did everyone else. He’s a neat young man, we got to spend a lot of time with him, he was able to come out to LA several times throughout the process.

"Everybody sees the physical ability, the length, he has a very unique combination physically but I do think Jahkeem’s mentality, the way he attacks, his confidence, he has a really gritty, tough hardworking mentality. I think that is what really makes him such an outstanding prospect and what made him a dominant high school player.”

Stewart had a strong "final" year in high school football, recording 85 tackles and 20 sacks. One would think that if he played in his senior year, we would see even more improvement from the player.

Now, Stewart will hope that he lives up to the high expectations placed on him and quickly becomes a key part of the USC defense.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Krutik Jain