Shemar Stewart brought the Texas heat with him when he stepped into Paycor Stadium's steamy Saturday to sign his rookie deal and left with a stone-cold wake-up call for a 5:30 a.m. meeting with Bengals defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery.

Stewart may not need to set an alarm. The Texas A&M edge player is still rushing on happy fumes after the excitement of his first-round deal coming down Friday night left him with just four hours of sleep.

"I feel like I finally made it here," said Stewart, unable to resist a peek at the photos about to be released from when he posed in his Bengals No. 97 last month. "Growing up, it's like everyone else. A long shot. It's a long shot for you to even make it. And then when you finally put it (the uniform) on, that actually makes you feel alive."

"I can't wait for Who-Dey Nation to see them," Stewart said. "Now I've got to make my mark. I can't tell you how long I've been dreaming about this."

Head coach Zac Taylor, his team on a day off, came into shoot baskets with his son and his buddies to welcome Stewart. Before taking the kids to the movies, Taylor watched him sign and told Stewart Monday was the fourth day of camp and the pads are going on this week.

Elizabeth Blackburn, the team's director of strategy and engagement, broke away from a meeting upstairs to welcome Stewart to what she called the Bengals' family and told him how thrilled they are to have a player whom their scouts and organization have a great deal of belief. What had been a contract standoff on Friday was now simply a starting point Saturday as assistant general manager Steven Radicevic filed the contract in a folder.

"It was a pretty cool moment. They made me feel welcome. Made me feel wanted," Stewart said. "Made me feel like I belong here. It was a very great moment. This is where I wanted to be the whole time."

Stewart said the impasse ended when, "Both sides just found some even ground. We both thought it would be beneficial for us to stop arguing and just get me back on the field."

That's going to happen Sunday following his meeting with Montgomery. After chiseling his 6-5, 267-pound frame in the College Station, Texas, sauna with famed A&M strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt the past six weeks, Stewart says he's not behind.

"Football is football. Only way I feel behind is if I ever question my physicality, which I don't," Stewart said. "Question my football abilities, which I don't. Sure, there are going to be some days I felt like I just got beat up on, but at the end of the day, that's football."

Moffitt, also the strength and conditioning coach for the LSU-Joe-Burrow-Ja’Marr-Chase national champions, oversaw a five day per work week that included nightmarish Earn-Your-Weekend Fridays of running in the godawful heat.

But then, that's what his coaches say he does. Grind. It will be recalled when he was drafted, his position coach, coordinator and assistant head coach Elijah Robinson offered to Bengals.com, "Every Sunday, this kid would come in and look at his clips from the game and ask how he could get better. He was his biggest critic. That's the thing about him. His own biggest critic. Unselfish. Smart. All about family."

Although he didn't work out in the spring in Cincinnati, Stewart was in the meetings and on the field for virtually every session. He says those days stacked up.

"I basically have the whole playbook in my notebook," Stewart said. "Just getting a good introduction to the playbook. Now the second time around, it won't be as hard. I feel like just being here and just being in those meetings will help my learning process go much faster."

Stewart admits, "I like watching myself on film." This is how the film tells him he'll be able to translate his game to the pros:

"By being a physical presence among the line in early downs. Just my sheer physicality on early downs to always stop the run. I feel like that's where I can make my biggest impact up front."

Stewart has high goals. He says he wants to have a better rookie year than anybody has had "in a while." He has to go all the way back to Aldon Smith's 14 sacks in 2011 to name one.

"I still have a lot of work to get to that. I can't wait for it to unfold," Stewart said.

He's not a pie-in-the-sky guy. He didn't talk about sacks, just stopping the run.

"How can you get to the passer if you can't stop the run?" Stewart asked.

It sounds like the 5:30 a.m. meeting has started.