Auburn Football: Tigers will be just fine without Byron Cowart

Former No. 1 recruit Byron Cowart announced this week that he will be transferring from the Auburn football program.

Gus Malzahn has had a rough week. He had one player, former starting quarterback Sean White, dismissed from the team due to a public intoxication charge. On Tuesday, defensive lineman Byron Cowart defected from the team.

The reasons behind Cowart’s leaving are sketchy — at first, officials at Auburn cited a dearth of playing time. Now Cowart has come out stating that he is looking for a school closer to his family in Florida in order to care for his ailing mother. Whatever his justification, will it affect Auburn’s defensive line? Probably not.

Malzahn had this to say about his defensive line: “We feel good. I think right now, our defense is the No. 2 defense in the country, and our defensive line has a lot to do with that. We feel good about that position, and we feel good about the depth there.”

Malzahn isn’t just asserting bragging rights. Right now, Auburn is second in the country in total yards allowed at 201 and first in the country in yards allowed per play at 3.2. The Tigers still have the brilliant Dontavius Russell, manchild Derrick Brown and Andrew Williams on the line in addition to a slew of other talented players.

Expect freshman Tyrone Truesdell — who already has some big plays under his belt — to step up. Defensive end Marlon Davidson is a multitalented player who has the capacity to play inside. Nick Coe, the massive 6-foot-5, 270-pound freshman, also shows a great deal of promise with seven tackles already this season.

Next: SEC Power rankings for Week 4

Auburn has some issues that it needs to address before it faces Alabama later this season. However, depth on the defensive line isn’t one of them. Auburn’s defense will be just fine, y’all.