Ranking high school recruits and trying to project their college production is often a crapshoot.

Therefore, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise when a top-rated recruit doesn’t pan out the way he was expected to.

However, the SEC does seem to attract a lot of No. 1 overall prospects and without a very high success rate. In fact, of the top-5 biggest No. 1 busts in the Rivals scouting era, the recruiting service lists four former SEC commits in spots 1-4:

  • Byron Cowart, DE, Auburn — No. 1
  • Bryce Brown, RB, Tennessee — No. 2
  • Ronald Powell, DE, Florida — No. 3
  • Da’Shawn Hand, DL, Alabama — No. 4

It seems a bit unfair to have Hand on the list, as he just had a nice game against Colorado State, racking up three tackles and half a sack.

He earned recognition from Pro Football Focus for his efforts in that game, being named to their Week 3 All-SEC defensive team:

However, he’ll need to continue to build off of Saturday’s performance as SEC play starts if he’s going to live up to his elite billing.

And while Cowart may have flamed out at Auburn, recently announcing his transfer, he could still make an impact at a different school, so it’ll be interesting to see where he ends up.