#1 ranked player according to Rivals

[Mama_Bull]

Flashback:

Football recruits being pulled all different directions

• Kelly Parsons and Antonya English, Times Staff Writers

Saturday, February 7, 2015 8:16pm

 

The hype surrounding Byron Cowart's college choice plagued the five-star football recruit for months on end. On the outside, reporters and recruiting analysts begged the Armwood High star for tidbits, anything that would hint at where the most sought-after high school player in the nation would spend his next three or four years.

On the inside was an 18-year-old kid being pulled in many directions, confused about the path he should take.

Woodrow Grady, coach of the 7-on-7 squad Team Tampa and Cowart's longtime mentor, helped Cowart through his recruitment, giving him advice and listening to his concerns.

"During the process, Byron wanted to go to six different schools," Grady said.

One day it would be Florida State, the next Oregon. With the college football world watching, the pressure to pick was heavy. Grady said he reminded Cowart often that the choice should be made in his own time, even once suggesting he forget about the top programs competing for him and just stay home and play for USF.

Wednesday morning was supposed to be the end of it all. And when Cowart announced his decision to attend Auburn in front of a packed Armwood High auditorium — and live on ESPNU's signing day telecast — it appeared things were going as planned. Grady went out with Cowart and Cowart's mother and friends for a celebratory lunch. Then he went home and took a nap.

But when he woke up later that afternoon with 19 messages on his phone — many pertaining to Cowart's letter of intent having not been faxed to Auburn yet — Grady realized the process was potentially far from over.

Cowart, who eventually sent his letter to Auburn more than seven hours after announcing, garnered national attention — and criticism — for his apparent indecision.

But he is far from being the only recruit who has felt weighed down by the process of making what is likely the biggest decision of his life to date.

Knowing the magnitude of Cowart's choice that day, Grady immediately gave the recruit a final piece of advice.

"I got up, dusted myself off, as they say, and I talked with Byron," Grady said. "I said, 'Whatever you want to do, you do. If you want to hold this out until you know what you want to do, do that.' "

Read  more at:

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/football-recruits-being-pulled-all-different-directions/2216856

 

[Mama_Bull]

Some more flashbacks: 

Byron Cowart update

In RECRUITING / By TEAM BCP / 20 February 2013

6-4/240 lbs 2015 Armwood DL, Byron Cowart has been on the map for a few seasons now. Partly because he is massive and looks like a college sophomore rather than a high school sophomore. Partly due to his athletic ability and tenacious play.

Recruiting is slowing starting to pick up for the Armwood Hawk who totaled 43 tackles this season, 4 sacks and even 1 INT. Cowart says he was invited to attend Junior Days at Georgia, Miami, South Florida and Florida. Miami, Florida and South Florida have been sending plenty of mail. Even Notre Dame has been in the mix.

Cowart says South Florida has been doing a great job so far attempting to secure many of the Tampa’s top prospects. He intends on visiting Vanderbilt with teammate Kyle Gibson in April to watch the Spring Game.

 

Tags: Armwood, Byron Cowart

 

FOOTBALL

—

1/25/2014

January 25th USF Junior Day

Mike Singer | RunningtheBulls.com Recruiting Analys

 

ven with having eight official visitors on campus, USF hosted well over forty underclassmen on Saturday for their first junior day. The Bulls hosted a very impressive crop.

- We confirmed over fifteen prospects that had BCS offers.

- There were eight prospects that attended that have exactly a four-star ranking by Rivals.com.

- CeCe Jefferson, Byron Cowart, Ray Ray McCloud III were the three Rivals100 prospects in attendance. Cowart is a five star and is the fourth ranked player in the country.

For the full list of attendees click below.

January 25th USF Junior Day

 

[bullsmeanbusiness]

40 minutes ago, Mama_Bull said:

January 25th USF Junior Day

Mike Singer | RunningtheBulls.com RecruitingtAnalys

ven with having eight official visitors on campus, USF hosted well over forty underclassmen on Saturday for their first junior day. The Bulls hosted a very impressive crop.

- We confirmed over fifteen prospects that had BCS offers.

- There were eight prospects that attended that have exactly a four-star ranking by Rivals.com.

- CeCe Jefferson, Byron Cowart, Ray Ray McCloud III were the three Rivals100 prospects in attendance. Cowart is a five star and is the fourth ranked player in the country.

For the full list of attendees click below.

January 25th USF Junior Day

 

 

Can you even imagine how different our D might have been had we somehow locked up CeCe and Byron? 

[Mama_Bull]

6 minutes ago, bullsmeanbusiness said:

Can you even imagine how different our D might have been had we somehow locked up CeCe and Byron? 

No doubt.

That is why UF,  FSU and Miami want to keep USF down as long as possible. They know, if we were in a P5 conference we would threaten their toehold on Florida recruiting. Of course, If we were in their shoes, we would try and do the same.

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Mama_Bull

[The Great 8]

4 hours ago, Mama_Bull said:

No doubt.

That is why UF,  FSU and Miami want to keep USF down as long as possible. They know, if we were in a P5 conference we would threaten their toehold on Florida recruiting. Of course, If we were in their shoes, we would try and do the same.

 

We did. We cockblocked UCF out of the BE for awhile, from the sounds of it.

[Paisa el Toro]

14 hours ago, The Great 8 said:

We did. We cockblocked UCF out of the BE for awhile, from the sounds of it.

Link?

[Apis Bull]

1 hour ago, Paisa el Toro said:

Link?

The only link you'll get is from UCF fans saying that it happened.

[The Great 8]

7 hours ago, Paisa el Toro said:

Link?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-05-08/sports/os-did-usf-president-judy-genshaft-lie-about-blocking-ucf-from-big-east-20120508_1_marinatto-hillsborough-county-legislative-delegation-big-east

Granted, it's mer McMurphy, who, frankly is right quite a bit.

" 'At that point when the Big East was intact, the only school the Big East could have legitimately added that made sense was UCF," an industry source said. "Maryland and Boston College? They wouldn't even return the Big East's calls. But the Big East couldn't add UCF because [South Florida president] Judy Genshaft kept shooting down UCF.'

"Genshaft's continuing insistence to block UCF from the league was a huge contributing factor which ultimately led to the league's current instability, a league source said. That's because in April of 2011, with TCU on board, Marinatto and the league negotiated a nine-year deal worth $1.4 billion for its new media rights deal. Marinatto recommended to his presidents that they accept the offer and they promptly voted against it.

Edited September 20, 2017 by The Great 8

[DELdaBull]

On 9/20/2017 at 7:21 PM, The Great 8 said:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-05-08/sports/os-did-usf-president-judy-genshaft-lie-about-blocking-ucf-from-big-east-20120508_1_marinatto-hillsborough-county-legislative-delegation-big-east

Granted, it's mer McMurphy, who, frankly is right quite a bit.

 

 

That article made it seem like USF was the one that lead the charge to vote down that deal when in reality it was those backstabbers named Pitt. 

[Mama_Bull]

5 hours ago, DELdaBull said:

That article made it seem like USF was the one that lead the charge to vote down that deal when in reality it was those backstabbers named Pitt. 

Agree.