Byron Cowart finally lands at Auburn after Letter of Intent bungle
SEFFNER, Fla. – Four hours after a seemingly standard – albeit highly anticipated – National Signing Day announcement, Armwood High School football coach Sean Callahan had shucked his shirt and tie. He was wearing a sweatshirt and shorts while overseeing students cleaning up the lunchroom.
It was symbolic of the mess Callahan and his star player, Byron Cowart, were trying to clean up Wednesday afternoon.
Cowart’s nationally televised commitment to Auburn at 9 a.m. was not followed by a faxed Letter of Intent. There were two distinctly divergent stories on why a Letter of Intent was not faxed as expected.
One is Callahan’s version: Cowart, the nation’s No. 1 recruit, according to Rivals.com, was torn between Auburn and Florida – so he brought in signed Letters of Intent to both schools at 8 a.m. He requested that neither be sent and said he only wanted to verbally commit to the Tigers. He would make a final decision later. Callahan said he confirmed that was Cowart’s intent with the player’s mother, Lacoria Wilson, and his mentor, Woodrow Grady. He said all three were onboard with that.
“He had the Florida one filled out and the Auburn one filled out,” Callahan said. “He was confused and told me to take them and said, ‘I don’t want either of them faxed out. I just want to commit to Auburn.’”
Cowart’s version, as it has been told to multiple recruiting analysts, including Rivals’ Mike Farrell: he left only one signed letter, with Auburn, for Callahan to fax. Wilson told Yahoo Sports at the signing announcement that the letter had been faxed – or at least she believed it had been. She signed him out of school around 10:30 a.m. ET and the family left, with no public indication that a controversy was about to explode.
But when Auburn concluded its signing day broadcast without publicizing Cowart’s signing – schools cannot say anything about a recruit until his formal paperwork has been received – questions began to percolate. Cowart told Farrell on Wednesday afternoon he didn’t know why the letter was not faxed.
The added intrigue: Callahan’s son, Kirk, joined new Florida coach Jim McElwain’s staff last month as defensive backs coach. That led to an explosion of Internet accusations that the elder Callahan was withholding Cowart’s letter in an attempt to get him to commit to Florida.
“There is no big scandal,” Callahan said. “I’m tired of being in the middle of this thing. … Really, I don’t care [where Cowart goes]. I’ve had a good relationship with coach [Will] Muschamp. [Muschamp now is at Auburn as defensive coordinator.] My son will still have his job no matter what happens with Byron.”
Farrell reported around 2 p.m. ET that Cowart was back at Armwood and confirmed at 4 p.m. that Auburn had received Cowart's signed Letter of Intent.
Meanwhile, Callahan went back to overseeing cleanup duty in the cafeteria after trying to defuse the most puzzling situation on an annually drama-filled day.
