Auburn Football Recruiting News: How Will Muschamp Helped Gus Malzahn Land DE Byron Cowart, the Nation's Top Recruit
ByThe consensus top recruit in the nation has chosen to play football at Auburn University.
Byron Cowart, a defensive end from Seffner, Fla., chose Auburn over Florida on live television on ESPNU's coverage of National Signing Day. With hiring Will Muschamp as their defensive coordinator, their recruiting of the five-star defensive lineman is another effort in revamping an underwhelming defense.
According to ESPN, Muscahmp was recruiting Cowart when the coach was leading the Florida Gators, so their relationship helped Auburn land the top recruit. The Gators' defensive toughness, and perhaps Muschamp's relationship with recruits like Cowart, led to Auburn aggressively pursuing the coach for Gus Malzahn's staff.
Auburn had one of the worst defenses in the SEC, finishing toward the bottom in sacks, total yards allowed, total points allowed per game as well as rushing and passing yards allowed.
ESPN, 247 Sports and Rivals all placed Cowart at the top of the defensive end prospect list and many more agree he is one of, if not the best recruit in the class of 2015.
In a scouting report for SB Nation, Bud Elliot said the young defensive end already has a number of pass rushing moves at his disposal. For high school pass rushers, he is the rare kind of a physical freak who also has a deeper understanding of how to play the position.
But he is not a finished product, as very few high school prospects are.
"Cowart does not have the most developed repertoire of moves, and improvement in his game will likely come from using better technique," Elliot wrote. "While he does show impressive quickness and burst in his highlights, he must show it more consistently in games. Cowart sometimes just stands up, not playing with burst or bend. In college, he must improve that, because blockers at the level of college football Cowart will be playing can easily handle him if he doesn't play with good bend and technique."