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Auburn DE Byron Cowart looks for sophomore surge in 2016
By Keith Farner
Published:
Byron Cowart was brought in to save the Auburn defensive line, and provide a pass rush it hadn’t seen in recent memory. The five-star recruit in the 2015 class from Seffner, Fla., was ranked No. 1 overall by 247 Sports and ESPN.
Making matters worse, Cowart sent a series of tweets during preseason camp that seemed to be equal parts frustration and cry for help following a tough adjustment to college football and the SEC. Yet Cowart played early and consistently, even though he struggled to play well. He had just six tackles — and zero sacks — and didn’t register a tackle at all in six games.
The Auburn coaching staff has consistently tamped down any worries about Cowart’s struggles, starting with former defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that Muschamp believes development takes time.
“Sometimes that I think a guy who is very hard on himself as a player certainly has high expectations for himself as any person would,” Muschamp told the paper last season. “Especially in this day and age, it’s the instant coffee society. Add water, put it in the microwave and it’s all going to work. That’s really not the way it is all the time.”
This spring, the Columbus Ledger-Enguirer reported that Cowart was the subject of one of the first questions for new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele.
“He’s a physical talent with great attitude,” Steele told the paper. “He’s still young. Those things I just talked about being a physically dominant player, being physical, playing with great effort, he’s bought into that.”
The glass half-full perspective would shake off Cowart’s struggles as freshman growing pains, and point to other former SEC defensive linemen who excelled as sophomores. Florida’s Ronald Powell, South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney and Ole Miss’ Robert Nkemdiche improved considerably as sophomores, and arguably improved from there.
And ESPN’s director of recruiting, Tom Luginbill, said Steele is the right coach at the right time to help Cowart given his experience, the Advertiser reported.
“You talk about where Kevin Steele has been the last three stops and look at his line play,” Luginbill said. “Alabama he had great defensive lineman. LSU they were really good and now he’s set to be deep there at Auburn.”
Coach Gus Malzahn admitted after the team’s first spring scrimmage about Cowart that “you can tell he’s more experienced.” Teammates have noticed, too.
Auburn DL Montravius Adams: Byron Cowart has stood out during offseason workouts, likes to compete against him in practice
— WarEagleExtra (@wareagleextra) March 2, 2016
In 2016, Cowart will be expected to contribute to a talented and experienced defensive front that includes Carl Lawson, Montravius Adams and Dontavius Russell on a defense that was second-to-last in the SEC in 2015 with 19 sacks.
Adams told the Ledger-Enquirer that Cowart has made the biggest strides during the offseason.
“I would say probably Byron the most,” Adams told the Ledger-Enquirer. “Just coming from his struggles last year a little bit and at the end of the season he started picking it up. Like I said he’s trying to run with it.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
