Official NSD Thread 2015

Letter of Intent bungle leaves Byron Cowart's commitment up in air

SEFFNER, Fla. â€“ Four hours after a seemingly standard â€“ albeit highly anticipated â€“ 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.

Cowartâ€™s nationally televised commitment to Auburn at 9 a.m. was not followed by a faxed Letter of Intent. There are two distinctly divergent stories on why a Letter of Intent was not faxed as expected.

One is Callahanâ€™s version: Cowart, the nationâ€™s No. 1 recruit, according to Rivals.com, was torn between Auburn and Florida â€“ 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 Cowartâ€™s intent with the playerâ€™s mother, Lacoria Wilson, and his mentor, Woodrow Grady. He said all three were onboard with that.

â€œHe had the Florida one filled out and the Auburn one filled out,â€ Callahan said. â€œHe was confused and told me to take them and said, â€˜I donâ€™t want either of them faxed out. I just want to commit to Auburn.â€™â€

Cowartâ€™s version, as it has been told to multiple recruiting analysts, including Rivalsâ€™ 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 â€“ 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.

Quote

â€œThere is no big scandal,â€ Callahan said. â€œIâ€™m tired of being in the middle of this thing. â€¦ Really, I donâ€™t care [where Cowart goes]. Iâ€™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.â€

Farrell reported around 2 p.m. that Cowart was back at Armwood. But as of 1:30 there was no sign of him as Callahan said he anticipated turning over the signed letters to Grady for him to deal with. (A voicemail message left by Yahoo Sports with Grady was not immediately returned.) Then Callahan went back to overseeing cleanup duty in the cafeteria after trying to defuse the most puzzling situation on an annually drama-filled day.

Peaches, anyone?

CCTAU · « **Reply #195 on:** February 04, 2015, 04:03:11 PM »

My source says all drama over at 4:00.

WiregrassTiger · « **Reply #196 on:** February 04, 2015, 04:06:14 PM »

Quote from: chinook on February 04, 2015, 03:26:19 PM

Chad quit being a pussy. You know you want to post something. We all want you back. Well except Wiregrass.

I don't mind allowing him to return as long as he addresses some of his issues (i.e. racism/gayness) and is willing to post on a conditional basis. He needs to serve a probationary period, first of all. And he needs to address me as sir.

If he comes to me in a sincere and regretful manner, I will consider allowing him to post. But it is on my terms or he stays banned. And I mean it this time.

dallaswareagle · « **Reply #197 on:** February 04, 2015, 04:06:40 PM »

Quote from: CCTAU on February 04, 2015, 04:03:11 PM

My source says all drama over at 4:00.

Heard the same thing out here, to be faxed at 4:00pm eastern. We will see.

Kaos · « **Reply #198 on:** February 04, 2015, 04:07:56 PM »

If you just give me one more month, I can figure this fax machine out...

CCTAU · « **Reply #199 on:** February 04, 2015, 04:14:18 PM »

My source sucks!

Well maybe not. Welcome Byron Cowart!