Evan Stewart
Introduction
Evan Stewart, Oregon’s leading wide receiver, was arrested by the Springfield Police Department early on Sunday, October 18, 2026, on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants. The arrest came hours after the Ducks’ 17-14 comeback victory over Nebraska, a game Stewart missed with an undisclosed injury. According to police, he was booked into the Springfield Municipal Jail and released about an hour later. As of the most recent reports in late October, no DUII charge had been filed in court; Stewart, who has no conviction and is presumed innocent, remained listed as out on Oregon’s availability report.
Background Information
Stewart, 23, is a fifth-year senior and a Memphis native who began his collegiate career at Texas A&M before transferring to Oregon in 2024. In his first season in Eugene, he caught 48 passes for 613 yards and five touchdowns, then missed the entire 2025 season with a right patellar tendon injury.
The 2026 season was his return and his third year in the program. Through five games, he led the Ducks with 27 receptions and 352 receiving yards, and his four touchdown catches were tied with Dakorien Moore for the team lead. Late in the week before the Nebraska game, he was downgraded from questionable to doubtful with an undisclosed injury and was again listed as out ahead of the Illinois game.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Arrested and charged; DUII count not yet filed. Per the Springfield Police Department, Stewart was arrested Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants, booked into the Springfield Municipal Jail and released about an hour later. As of the latest reports in late October, prosecutors had filed no DUII charge and had not dismissed the case, saying they were awaiting evidence; Stewart also received a violation-level citation for driving while suspended. He has no conviction and is presumed innocent.
According to a written statement from the Springfield Police Department, an officer stopped Stewart at about 5 a.m. on Highway 126 near Mohawk Boulevard on suspicion of impaired driving. During the stop, the officer suspected the driver was impaired and initiated a DUII investigation. “The officer developed probable cause to arrest Evan Stewart for DUII,” the statement said. Stewart was booked into the Springfield Municipal Jail at around 7 a.m. and was released to a third party about an hour later, per police.
The timing drew immediate attention. Oregon had beaten Nebraska 17-14 the previous afternoon, and Springfield police used the same release to address a separate matter from that night: “SPD was involved in a vehicle pursuit involving speeding vehicles in the west Centennial area of Springfield,” the statement said, noting that the pursuit was terminated and the investigation was continuing, and that “Stewart has no suspected involvement in that incident.”
The case then entered a muddled stretch. On the morning of Friday, October 23, KATU reported, citing municipal court records, that prosecutors had declined to file a DUII charge following the arrest. Roughly an hour later, The Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Ryan Clarke described a different posture: “Prosecutors are awaiting delivery of evidence, which can sometimes take days or weeks depending on if it was a blood draw, before formally filing charges.” “The prosecutor has not dismissed charges. The prosecutor has not filed charges as they are awaiting evidence,” Springfield Police Deputy Chief George Crolly told The Oregonian/OregonLive, according to Clarke’s post on X. Clarke also shared a police statement saying Stewart had been issued a violation-level citation for driving while suspended, additional to rather than a replacement for the DUII allegation. Neither report established whether Stewart had undergone a blood draw.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The University of Oregon, contacted by KPTV for comment, said only: “We are aware of the incident and are gathering information at this time.”
Coach Dan Lanning addressed the arrest at his weekly media availability on Monday without naming Stewart. “There’s an incident this weekend that didn’t match our standard here in our program,” Lanning said. “There will be appropriate action taken. We’re still gathering some details with what that situation looks like, but that’ll be handled internally.” He called it disappointing that the episode “overshadows the success that we had on Saturday,” and said the matter would not be discussed publicly again.
The arrest also landed in a difficult context for the program. Stewart was the second member of Oregon’s football program to face DUII charges, after assistant head coach and running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples was charged with DUII and reckless driving after backing his truck into a parked car in Eugene. Asked what the program was doing to prevent further DUIIs, Lanning said, “To think there isn’t things that happen in our program to prevent it would be wrong,” while again declining to take questions on the subject.
Current Status
As of the most recent reporting in late October, Stewart had not been charged with DUII, and prosecutors had not dismissed the matter; according to the police deputy chief, they were awaiting evidence before formally filing. The driving-while-suspended citation remained a violation-level matter, and no resolution of any count had been reported.
On the field, Stewart remained listed as out on Oregon’s availability report ahead of the Ducks’ road game against Illinois, with Oregon entering that stretch 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play ahead of games against No. 24 Northwestern and No. 3 Ohio State. The program has announced no public discipline; Lanning has said only that any action would be handled internally. With Stewart and fellow receiver Jeremiah McClellan out, Dakorien Moore was expected to lead the receiving group.
Impact on Their Career/Life
For Stewart, the arrest landed at a precarious moment. He had just fought back from a season-long patellar tendon injury that wiped out his 2025 campaign, and through five games in 2026 he was once again Oregon’s most productive receiver. The police investigation now shadowed that comeback: he missed the Nebraska game and was listed out again afterward, even as the DUII case remained unresolved.
Reputationally, Lanning’s public framing — that the incident “didn’t match our standard” and would draw “appropriate action” — placed Stewart under internal discipline whose specifics the program declined to describe. And because prosecutors had neither filed nor dismissed the DUII count as of late October, the central legal question of his case remained open.