Byron Cowart

[aubiefifty 16,738]

 

How Auburn's Byron Cowart is progressing at defensive tackle

Rodney Garner isn't afraid to speak his mind, and the Auburn defensive line coach typically gives nuanced responses to most questions asked to him.

Yet on Thursday, during Auburn's assistant coaches media day, Garner was unusually terse when asked about junior defensive tackle Byron Cowart -- the former five-star prospect who moved from defensive end to tackle this offseason and is still trying to come into his own at Auburn.

"He's working," Garner said. "He's working. He's working. He's working."

When pressed with a follow-up question, Garner gave a little bit more insight into Cowart's progress this fall.

"He's just got to keep improving," Garner said. "He moved to a new position, which is totally Greek. He's at defensive tackle, which that's a different position. So he has to learn the techniques and fundamentals that master those where he can be successful at that position."

Markaviest Bryant and the Auburn defensive line perform drills on Day 3 of fall camp

Garner has long tried to curb outside expectations for Cowart, who arrived at Auburn in 2015 with lofty personal goals but was also followed by seemingly insurmountable hype stemming from his recruitment, when he was the nation's No. 3 overall recruit in the 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 1 overall defensive end.

In two seasons at Auburn, the 6-foot-3, 283-pounder has largely underwhelmed on the field. He has appeared in 23 games with no starts and has just 12 total tackles in that span, including just six solo stops and one for a loss of yards. He added a forced fumble last season against Texas A&M.

"Byron is good, and he's getting better; I can tell," offensive lineman Mike Horton said. "I think Byron is really good."

Garner said in the spring that if he could do it over again, he would have redshirted Cowart in 2015 to give the Seffner, Fla., native more time to develop before being thrown into the fire of SEC play.

Cowart shifted to the interior line this spring and is expected to be among the defensive tackles in what Garner hopes to be a 10-man rotation along the defensive line this season. Cowart entered camp as the fourth tackle in that rotation, behind Dontavius Russell, Derrick Brown and Andrew Williams.

 

Cowart had "that swag about him" in the spring

Former five-star prospect Byron Cowart has moved to defensive tackle this spring after two underwhelming seasons at defensive end.

 

Cowart's skillset is better suited to play defensive tackle than defensive end in the SEC, and while his impact this season will depend on how well situated he becomes at his new position, teammates have noticed a difference in him since the move inside.

"He's always been a great player, but I feel like he likes the position he plays now," Horton said.

The biggest asset Cowart brings to defensive tackle is his quickness and strength. While he lacked the proper burst to be an effective edge rusher, he is quick enough to be disruptive on the interior line and help Auburn try to add some pass rush from the position -- something the Tigers will need to do following the departure of Montravius Adams.

"I think he's settling in," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "In the spring, he started settling in. It's like anything else -- you get more reps at it, the better you're going to be. He's shown at times that he can rush the passer from inside pretty efficiently."

Auburn's Byron Cowart has read stories about how highly-touted players overcame struggles

 

[doverstutts 1,643]

The SEC Rant is saying that he may be transferring to FAU.   I have no idea if it is true

[gr82b4au 5,568]

I saw that rumor but in any case I really hope he get's it together and is successful. He is needed on the interior line now. I have heard everything from "he is doing great" to "he is really struggling" and now "he may transfer". He seems to have all of the tools to be great but his motor needs to run a little higher. People that have watched him say he is a little slow coming off the snap. Right now I think he would be our #4 DT which means he would play a lot this year, so we should see if he has taken to his new position. Hopefully he really dominates. 

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

From people at the scrimmages- he hasn't been much of a contributor on the DL anyways. He'd do way better at FAU. Seems like it's too late to transfer 

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

1 minute ago, AuburnTiger4Life said:

From people at the scrimmages- he hasn't been much of a contributor on the DL anyways. He'd do way better at FAU 

Whoa now, pump the brakes alil. We need him to step up and provide quality depth at DT this year.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

I'd hate to lose Byron. I'm in the minority of people that still think he has a lot of potential to be really good at Auburn 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

7 minutes ago, ValleyTiger said:

Whoa now, pump the brakes alil. We need him to step up and provide quality depth at DT this year.

Agreed. He may not be the starter but he provides depth. If he leaves, it will certainly cause depth issues since we also just lost AJ to transfer.

right now I think it is a bad rumor. Hopefully. 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,290]

FAU? KIFFIN?!

[kd4au 1,145]

Why would anyone leave now and miss a chance at a ring.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Just now, kd4au said:

Why would anyone leave now and miss a chance at a ring.

I like the way you think. 

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

29 minutes ago, gr82b4au said:

Agreed. He may not be the starter but he provides depth. If he leaves, it will certainly cause depth issues since we also just lost AJ to transfer.

right now I think it is a bad rumor. Hopefully. 

I think it is. He has worked so hard in the offseason, it would be wierd to just transfer now two weeks before the season. Not sure he can still enroll in classes at this point. This rumor was probably made up by a fan 

[Scotty2Hotty 520]

42 minutes ago, AuburnTiger4Life said:

Seems like it's too late to transfer 

Since FAU is FBS, meaning he would have to sit a season, I suppose he could transfer before 2017 starts and use 2017 as his redshirt year and he would have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

Sigh 

[thaitopher 807]

I don't know anything but people are starting to say it's JF3 that is transferring, not Cowart but who knows.

[doverstutts 1,643]

5 minutes ago, thaitopher said:

I don't know anything but people are starting to say it's JF3 that is transferring, not Cowart but who knows.

Seems to be what is trending at this moment.   I am glad, because I think Cowart has NFL talent, now that he is playing inside

[aufan57 922]

49 minutes ago, Scotty2Hotty said:

Since FAU is FBS, meaning he would have to sit a season, I suppose he could transfer before 2017 starts and use 2017 as his redshirt year and he would have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Blake Barnett left spuat four games into the 2016 season. Enrolled in a junior college. NCAA ruled he was eligible to play the entire 2017 season.

Quote

Arizona State quarterback Blake Barnett, a transfer from Alabama, will be immediately eligible to play for the Sun Devils, per an appeal ruling from the NCAA on Tuesday.

Barnett, a redshirt sophomore, left Alabama on Sept. 28, four games into the 2016 season, after freshman Jalen Hurts became established as the Crimson Tide's starter. As a transfer, he'd typically be required to sit out a calendar year if not for the ruling, which was first reported by The Arizona Republic.

Instead, he will compete with returning starter Manny Wilkins, a junior, to run the Sun Devils' offense in the season opener on Aug. 31 against New Mexico State.

Arizona State also this week announced the hiring of Billy Napier as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Napier was Alabama's receivers coach, so he is familiar with Barnett.

Barnett, who played at Santiago High School in Corona, California, was rated the No. 1 pocket passer in the 2015 recruiting class. He started Alabama's 2016 season opener against Southern California but lost his job to Hurts. He played in three of the first four games, completing 11 of 19 passes for 219 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Barnett enrolled in Palomar College, a community college, after leaving Tuscaloosa. That allowed him to become eligible about a month into the 2017 season, but he appealed to the NCAA for the right to play the whole season.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/alabama-transfer-blake-barnett-immediately-eligible-play-arizona/story?id=49086333

[Piketiger1990 173]

I don't see JFIII transferring, I believe it was last week in an interview he said he didn't want to go through the transferring process again and he was graduating. I don't see Cowart transferring either because even if he has fallen on the depth chart we are pretty thin at DT so he is going to get significant playing time. 

[lutzcammed 469]

any idea on the root of origin of either of these rumors?

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

3 hours ago, Piketiger1990 said:

I don't see JFIII transferring, I believe it was last week in an interview he said he didn't want to go through the transferring process again and he was graduating. I don't see Cowart transferring either because even if he has fallen on the depth chart we are pretty thin at DT so he is going to get significant playing time. 

We're actually not that thin. Almost 3 deep even without cowart 

[austudnt23 1,432]

I don't want to get to deep into this. I don't expect Cowart to make any type of impact this year unless he changes drastically. What I saw at the scrimmage from him Saturday was discouraging. Also have been hearing how he was acting but saw first hand Saturday. 

[Scotty2Hotty 520]

3 hours ago, aufan57 said:

Blake Barnett left spuat four games into the 2016 season. Enrolled in a junior college. NCAA ruled he was eligible to play the entire 2017 season.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/alabama-transfer-blake-barnett-immediately-eligible-play-arizona/story?id=49086333

Duly noted, but Barnett had to request and receive a special ruling in order to play in 2017.

[Guest kissimmeetiger]

I hope he's ready to go.

[Randman5000 4,226]

24 minutes ago, austudnt23 said:

I don't want to get to deep into this. I don't expect Cowart to make any type of impact this year unless he changes drastically. What I saw at the scrimmage from him Saturday was discouraging. Also have been hearing how he was acting but saw first hand Saturday. 

Hearing how he was acting?

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

4 hours ago, thaitopher said:

I don't know anything but people are starting to say it's JF3 that is transferring, not Cowart but who knows.

I noticed people on the 247 boards that seem to have respectability say the scrimmage was not very good for either of them.

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

3 minutes ago, Randman5000 said:

Hearing how he was acting?

23 can correct me but supposedly was not coming off the ball, etc, got benched by garner then isolated himself from the team and pouted, Tre had to get him back over with the team. 23 can probably give more solid info tho. Just what I've heard.