After splitting place-kicking duties with All-American Sam Martin over the past two seasons, Stewart is expected to handle field goals and PATs on a full-time basis as a senior … solidified his hold on the job with a terrific spring … very accurate kicker has been good on 70 percent of field-goal attempts and over 96 percent of extra-points tries in his career.

2012: Served as team’s place kicker for the first eight games of the season … made 6-of-10 field goals on the season and all 34 of his PAT attempts … got off to a solid start, making six of his first seven field-goal attempts of the season, with the lone miss coming from 43 yards out on his first try of the season at East Carolina … went on to convert two field goals apiece versus ECU, Chattanooga and Coastal Carolina … missed his next three field-goal attempts, however, and relinquished place-kicking duties to All-America punter Sam Martin following a Week 8 loss to Wofford, when he hooked a 24-yard attempt wide left.

2011: Appeared in eight games and served as Appalachian’s primary place kicker for the final six games of the season … made 8-of-10 field goals on the season and converted 17-of-19 extra points for a team-high 41 kicking points … was a perfect 6-of-6 on field-goal attempts from 37 yards and in and 2-of-4 from beyond, including a respectable 2-of-3 showing from 40 yards and out … was a perfect 17-of-17 on PAT attempts during the regular season before an uncharacteristic 0-for-2 in the season-ending second-round playoff loss to Maine … took over the place-kicking duties from injury-riddled Sam Martin during the seventh game of the campaign against Samford … went 1-for-2 on field-goal attempts against No. 1 Georgia Southern and at Furman … broke out with a record-breaking 6-for-6 performance in regular-season home finale versus Western Carolina, splitting the uprights from a season-long 44, 32, 29, 21, 27 and 24 yards … set school records with six field goals (previous record: four) and 21 kicking points (previous record: 15) with the perfect afternoon against WCU, which also included 3-for-3 extra points … six field goals also tied a Southern Conference single-game record while the 21 kicking points broke the previous conference record of 20 … 21 kicking points fell just three shy of the NCAA Division I FCS single-game record of 24 … was named SoCon Special Teams Player of the Week for record-breaking performance against WCU.

Previous College: Spent two seasons at Marshall ... redshirted as a true freshman in 2009 ... won job as Herd’s kickoff specialist as a redshirt freshman in 2010 ... averaged 54.8 yards over 33 kickoffs last season (kicks were fielded at the 15 yard line, on average) ... did not attempt any place kicks.

High School: Was a two-year letterwinner on the gridiron for North Gaston H.S. ... made 76-of-78 PATs and 15-of-18 field goals in his career while registering 21 touchbacks on kickoffs ... earned all-conference recognition both seasons of his prep career and was named all-state as a junior ... voted a team captain as a senior ... coached by Bruce Clark and Josh Clendenin ... was a four-year all-conference performer, team captain and MVP in soccer ... scored 53 career goals ... also received two letters and back-to-back all-conference accolades in tennis.

Personal: Full name is Philip Andrew Stewart ... born Feb. 19, 1991 (22 years old) ... son of Michele and Frank Stewart ... is the oldest of three boys in his family ... first cousin, Erika Stewart, is a swimmer that represented Colombia in the 2008 Summer Olympics ... is an accomplished, near-scratch golfer that competes in various amateur tournaments across the Southeast during the offseason ... graduated from Appalachian with a bachelor’s degree in business management in May … is pursuing a master’s degree in higher education.