While SEC fans may not be aware of it, Byron Cowart managed to repair his reputation in the eyes of many NFL evaluators during his time at Maryland.

The former five-star prospect never managed to live up to the hype coming out of Armwood High School (he was rated as the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2015 recruiting cycle) but if he is drafted by an NFL franchise, something ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper believes could happen starting as soon as the fifth round of the upcoming selection process, Cowart will have managed to salvage his stock in a manner few elite high school prospects labeled with the dreaded “bust” tag have proven to accomplish.

Once most players are written off, they stay that way but following his breakout performance for Maryland, Cowart registered 38 tackles, three sacks, five tackles for loss and two interceptions this season — all career highs, the lineman hopes to hear his name called from the podium during the Nashville draft.

In a recent interview with Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times, Cowart looked back at his college recruitment coming out of Armwood and admitted he should have listened to his high school coach, Sean Callahan. Cowart was expected to play for the Gators under Will Muschamp but once Muschamp was fired in Gainesville and landed at Auburn as the defensive coordinator, the elite high school prospect followed the coach to The Plains.

Looking back, Cowart now believes his high school coach was right to point him towards the Gators.

“I think (Callahan) was trying to prevent what happened at Auburn from happening, because I think he knew Coach Muschamp…would want to be a head coach again,” Cowart said. “So he was just saying to be smart. But I had outside people thinking, ‘Oh, (Callahan) just wants you to go to Florida because it benefits him.’ I look back at it, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I should’ve just listened.’”

Muschamp lasted only one season at Auburn before accepting the head coaching job at South Carolina, leaving the elite prospect that signed with Auburn just to play for him behind. Cowart played three seasons at Auburn before transferring to Maryland to finish his collegiate playing career.

We will never know how things could have turned out for Cowart had he enrolled in Gainesville and while he never found his footing at Auburn playing under Muschamp or Kevin Steele, it appears his dreams of playing in the NFL may finally work out, regardless of the unusual route it took to get there.