The centerpiece of Auburn’s 2015 recruiting class is gone. A day after quarterback Sean White was dismissed from Auburn following an arrest for public intoxication, Byron Cowart, a former blue-chip prospect, asked to be released from his scholarship so he can transfer to another program.

Cowart is hoping to use this season as a redshirt and use an exemption to play in 2018. His reason for leaving was disappointment over playing time and he also disclosed that his mother is going through health issues and he wants to be closer to home. He also said privately (and later publicly) that things started going downhill when former defensive coordinator Will Muschamp left to become the head coach at South Carolina.

On the field, Dontavius Russell and Derrick Brown were taking the majority of the snaps in the middle of the Tigers defensive line. This is after Cowart put on weight in the offseason to make the transition from defensive end to defensive tackle at the urging of his coaches to get more playing time. No doubt this contributed to his frustration.

It’s hard to say if Cowart was ever happy at Auburn or if Auburn was the right fit for him. And it has nothing to do with Gus Malzahn or any of the Auburn coaches. He signed with Auburn under such a cloud of issues. Sean Callahan, his coach at Armwood High School, near Tampa, made it clear that he hoped Cowart signed with Florida.

Cowart appeared resistant to that. Why? It’s hard to say. Maybe he felt like Callahan was pushing him to Florida because his son, Kirk Callahan, was a coach in the Gators program at the time. Maybe he just didn’t feel a connection, especially after Muschamp was fired from Florida. Cowart told Auburn’s 247Sports site that he tried to leave Auburn over the summer but coaches persuaded him to return and told him he was getting close to turning the corner.

Still he wasn’t the guy Auburn recruited. They didn’t recruit a 290-pound tackle; Cowart was supposed to be a dynamic 265-pound defensive end who could create havoc in the backfield similar to Myles Garrett. However, expecting Cowart to just be a plug-and-play football player was unrealistic. Regardless of whether a prospect is at the top of the bottom of the recruiting class, their productivity tends to be related to their comfort level within the program.

Over the past 24 hours Cowart has spoken to many outlets and made it clear he was never comfortable at Auburn. And after Muschamp left, he gives the impression that he might have been slightly depressed. As talented as Cowart is, his history as a football player tells us that playing at a high level isn’t something that comes naturally. In order to get the best out of him, he needed to know that he could trust the development process and the people implementing it.

These were issues that dogged Cowart before he arrived in the Plains. It was clear that he had all the physical talent one would want in a defensive line prospect, but he struggled with consistency on the field. He looked like the No. 1 guy in the nation (actually No. 3, according to 247 Sports composite), but he didn’t always play like it and there were about how he would react in a highly competitive environment around other top defensive line prospects.

In two-plus years, Cowart’s impact at Auburn is forgettable. I think both sides tried to make it work as best they could, but Cowart didn’t fully buy into what the coaches were selling and the coaches couldn’t rely on Cowart developing into an every-down starter so they decided to recruit over him with players like Russell and Brown. It was a separation everyone expected and now that it happen we’re all left to wonder was it a good idea to begin with?

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In this decade the No. 1 player in high school football has selected an SEC program six times. Here’s how they have fared:

2010 Ronald Powell (Moreno Valley, Calif.; Florida) – Powell played in over 30 games with 21 starts in three years with the Gators. In 2012 he redshirted when he tore his ACL during the spring and again in rehab. Safe to say Powell’s tenure at Florida was up and down, much like the program while he was there as it was transitioning from Urban Meyer to Will Muschamp. Powell was drafted in the fifth round by the New Orleans Saints in 2014 and played in 14 games as a rookie but has been relegated to practice squads since.

2011 Jadeveon Clowney (Rock Hill, S.C.; South Carolina) – Let’s get it out of the way, here’s the play:

Clowney is often defined by his junior year at South Carolina when he sat out games and dogged it at times with minor injuries because he didn’t want to ruin his draft stock. But people forget how absolutely dominating he was as a freshman and a sophomore – he was unquestionably the best defensive player in college football in his sophomore year. In 37 games he had 47 tackles for loss, 24 sacks and nine forced fumbles. The Gamecocks were 33-6 during his tenure and he elevated that program from a recruiting standpoint. Clowney should be on any SEC All-Decade team.

2012 Dorial Green-Beckham (Springfield, Mo.; Missouri) – Green-Beckham was talented but even more self-destructive. In two seasons at Mizzou he had 87 catches for 1,278 yards and 17 touchdowns but he had several arrests for drug possession and was dismissed after his sophomore year. Green-Beckham transferred to Oklahoma but never played. He was drafted in the second round by the Tennessee Titans in 2015 but was released by the Philadelphia Eagles in June and isn’t on an NFL roster.

2013 Robert Nkemdiche (Loganville, Ga.; Ole Miss) – Nkemdiche was the centerpiece of a highly-touted class at Ole Miss that including offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Laquon Treadwell. Nkemdiche was a force in the middle of the Ole Miss defensive line. He started 34 games and had 19 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He was a Freshman All-American (2013), first-team All-American (2015) and two-time first-team All-SEC (2014, 2015). He also had one thunderous touchdown.

The end Nkemdiche’s career was marred by marijuana and a hard fall from an Atlanta hotel. He was drafted in the first round by the Arizona Cardinals in 2016.

2014 Leonard Fournette (New Orleans; LSU) – Much like Clowney, Fournette’s junior year was marred by injuries and some people forgot how much of a monster he was carrying the rock as a freshman and sophomore. And even in his junior season he had a game where he rushed for 284 yards.

Over three years Fournette, rushed for 3,830 yards, 40 touchdowns and proved to be one of the most physically-imposing running backs in SEC history joining the likes of Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson, Jamal Lewis and Derrick Henry. Fournette was a consensus All-American as a sophomore.

2015 Trent Thompson (Albany, Ga.; Georgia) – So far Thompson is on the right trajectory to be a productive player and a possible high draft pick. The defensive tackle has 81 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in two seasons. Thompson left school for a while with what was described as a significant medical issue but he returned in May and is back on the field for the Bulldogs.