FULTONDALE—Less than three months after ArDarius Stewart was selected 79th overall to the New York Jets in the 2017 NFL Draft, he returned to his old high school with a shiny surprise.

After the Fultondale football team closed shop on its 8 a.m. varsity workout, Stewart presented players with brand new helmets, courtesy of his own wallet.

“For our kids at Fultondale High School in 3A football to be able to have two helmets and for ArDarius to be able to do that for us at this stage of his career is just tremendous,” said Fultondale head coach Richie Busby.

The helmets—Schutt F7—are a new model that will debut in the NFL and college this fall. All together, the equipment cost Stewart $15,000. The new, white helmets will now pair with Fultondale’s 10-year-old orange helmets, which will also be available for duty this season.

“I feel like it’s important to come back and give back,” Said Stewart. “They did a lot for me when I was here, coach Busby and everyone here, so it’s nothing for me to come back and give back to those guys.”

“I was trying to set this up for the longest, but there was a lot of things we had to do [with the Jets], so I had the free time to come do this and it was just something important to me. You make time for things that are important to you and this school is very important to me,” he continued. “No one really does anything for Fultondale except for the Fultondale community, so I’m a part of this community and I just wanted to show them that I’m standing strong with them.”

With safety at the forefront of the modern-day football conversation, Fultondale players will now be equipped with newest headgear on the market, thanks to one of their own.

“If my son were playing on this team, I would want him to have the best equipment that we can possibly have, so I feel like I want to do that for the other kids. Safety is the number one issue that everybody is concerned about with football and the equipment is just getting better and better, so it’s safer to me than it’s ever been and I’m just excited for our kids to have the opportunity to have [these helmets].

Stewart, a 2013 graduate of Fultondale High School and former All-SEC receiver at Alabama, has a message for this year’s Wildcats.

“You can’t be out there [wearing] all this nice gear and not playing well, so I’m challenging these guys to come out this season and show me something different,” said Stewart.

After winning the Class 3A, Region 6 championship last fall, Fultondale kicks off the 2017 season at home against Tarrant on August 31, and the new helmets are sure to be worn.

Stewart likely will not be there that night, only 10 days away from his NFL debut, but according to Busby, he’s never a stranger to his old high school.

“He comes back and goes to the gym and plays PE with the sixth and seventh-graders and he’ll stay here all day. He’s just a tremendous kid,” said Busby.

“I don’t know that I’ve seen one play with more heart, play with more determination, courage and all the words you can use to describe him. He was just an absolute winner. When the game was on the line and the ball needed to be in somebodie’s hands, he was mad if you didn’t give it to him.”

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.