Rodney Garner could see the bluster returning to Byron Cowart during the offseason. After an underwhelming freshman campaign, the former No. 1 overall recruit appeared to finally be putting everything together.

"He's moving closer to becoming the guy with the swag that he walked in with, you know what I'm saying?" Garner said in August. "Trust me, he ain't there yet, but he ain't (where he was) either."

That was more than two months and six games ago. Yet as Auburn readies itself for the second half of its regular-season slate, Cowart's contributions to the Tigers' defense -- which has enjoyed a renaissance under first-year coordinator Kevin Steele -- have been noticeably absent from the stat sheet.

After an offseason arrest for marijuana possession, the 6-foot-3, 276-pound defensive end has appeared in all six games for Auburn this season, rotating along a deep and talented defensive line. He has not started a game after freshman Marlon Davidson beat him out for the starting job, and so far this season Cowart has just four total tackles, which is 21st on the team.

Three of those tackles have been solo stops, with two of them coming against Sun Belt opponent ULM. He also forced a fumble in Auburn's Week 3 loss to Texas A&M.

"Obviously, you got to kind of see this," Steele said. "Where was the ball run? Where was the point of attack? Should he have made the play?"

To that end, Steele has seen moments from Cowart, even if the stats haven't reflected it. There's still plenty of room for improvement, especially for a former five-star prospect.

"He's made the plays -- he's been involved in plays that he's supposed to be involved in," Steele said. "There wasn't anything where he gave up anything, so that's a starting point. As he gains confidence, then I think he'll start -- he's still learning that position in terms of what we're asking him to do, so I think as he matures and grows older, it just happens different for different people. I think he'll be fine."

Whether that turns out to be true remains to be seen. Cowart -- who was rated the No. 1 prospect in the 2015 class by Rivals.com and the No. 3 overall prospect in the 247Sports composite rankings -- has now appeared in 18 games during his Auburn career. During that span, he has just 10 total tackles, six hurries and the forced fumble. He has yet to record a sack or even a tackle for a loss.

Perhaps most disconcerting is that last season, coach Gus Malzahn called Auburn's bye week "very critical" for Cowart and likened it to 2013, when Carl Lawson took off during the second half of the season on his way to Freshman All-America honors. Instead, Cowart has remained stagnant in his progress and his playing time has been affected by the considerable depth Auburn has along the line, as well as the production coming from the likes of Davidson, Lawson and Jeff Holland at defensive end.

"For Byron not to be playing much at all, and every time he gets in the game for people to say 'it's a Byron Cowart sighting,' that's really, really confusing and rare," Rivals national recruiting director Mike Farrell told AL.com. "That just doesn't happen. We've had guys that have gotten injured. We've had guys that have gotten in trouble. We've had guys that have taken a long time to develop... but for them not to play at all or very little? That confounds me a bit."

It's a rarity, according to Farrell -- who has been a recruiting expert for 18-plus years -- especially for a player who was so dominant at the high school level and had all the physical attributes that would indicate a successful transition to the college game.

"We felt first and foremost, physically he checked off all the boxes you're looking for," Farrell said. "He was very powerful, built, very, very strong. He was explosive off the snap. He could bull-rush you. He used his hands well, and one thing he needed to work on a little bit was quickness around the edge.

"He could definitely do some damage on an inside move. He had a really had a good work ethic, too. He was always working on his game."

For one reason or another, though, that has not translated to the college level. When Cowart arrived last season, he was oftentimes physically dominated during practices when the team would run its "Tiger drill" -- a one-on-one drill that matched up players head to head. Garner said that anybody who wanted to call out Cowart was able to dominate him, leading walk-ons to question whether Cowart really was a five-star prospect.

Of course, freshman year struggles aren't out of the ordinary, even for blue chip recruits.

While many of the 34 players ranked as five-stars by Rivals in the 2015 class are on the fast-track to success -- UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen, USC cornerback Iman Marshall and four five-stars signed to Alabama, to name a few -- there were 10, including Cowart, in the Rivals rankings who failed to live up to the lofty expectations bestowed upon them or redshirted last season.

Of those 10, two have since truly taken off: FSU defensive back Tarvarus McFadden, who is tied for first nationally with five interceptions, and Alabama defensive tackle Da'Ron Payne, who earned the starting job at nose tackle before the season and has 15 tackles and a sack so far this year.

Others are still contributing to their teams, like UCLA linebacker Keisean Lucien-South, Tennessee offensive tackle Drew Richmond (who started two games at left tackle for the Vols this year, including the season opener) and Stanford's Trenton Irvin, who is the team's leading receiver this year. Former LSU receiver Tyron Johnson has transferred to Oklahoma State and is redshirting this season, while FSU receiver George Campbell sustained a season-ending injury in August and Tennessee defensive lineman Kyle Phillips has just two tackles in five games this year.

None of the other players, of course, was regarded as the No. 1 overall prospect in the nation like Cowart, who came to Auburn with lofty goals that included being a Freshman All-American, a Heisman winner and a first-round NFL Draft pick.

RELATED: Cowart had sights set on Heisman before arriving at Auburn

"I don't know," Farrell said. "Physically he should have translated very well. He was 6-foot-4, 265 pounds of muscle and had all that explosion and strength and power. Sometimes kids don't buy in, sometimes they get overwhelmed, sometimes they get distracted. I really don't know the reason. It surprises me quite a bit."

It's something Farrell hasn't quite seen from a No. 1 overall recruit before as Rivals' ratings system has a high success rate when it comes to top players panning out. The two closest comparisons he could think of were former Ohio State linebacker Curtis Grant, who was the nation's No. 2 overall prospect in 2011 behind Jadeveon Clowney, and 2014's No. 1 overall recruit, Da'Shawn Hand, who is currently a backup defensive end at Alabama.

In Hand's case, Farrell said the 6-foot-4, 278-pounder fell victim to the numbers game at Alabama, especially after Jonathan Allen decided to return for his senior season. Even then, Hand is factoring heavily into the Tide's defensive line rotation and has 12 tackles, including a sack, to go along with a forced fumble and a hurry in seven games this year.

Grant, on the other hand, struggled during his first two seasons at Ohio State before putting together respectable numbers as a junior and senior. He had just 10 total tackles during his first two seasons combined before racking up 52 as a junior in 2013 and 69 as a senior the following year. Grant went undrafted in 2015 before signing as a free agent with the San Diego Chargers and bouncing around the league before landing on the San Francisco 49ers' practice squad this season.

Much like Grant, Farrell has noticed that Cowart is often a step late on the field, whereas in high school he was always in position to make plays.

"I think it was they were just bigger, faster, stronger than everyone else, but they get to the college level and they're just a step behind," Farrell said. "I've seen him play this year where he should have been in position to make plays, but he's one step behind, so he's trying to arm-tackle a guy when he should be right there. I think that's something that drives coaches nuts, especially when you have so much talent at the end position, where you can just plug in another guy. I don't know why. I have no idea. I'm hoping it pans out for him... I would say right now, based on the play I'm seeing... I don't see it right now from Byron. The good thing is he's got plenty of time to turn it around."

If he doesn't, Cowart risks garnering the reputation as one of the biggest recruiting busts in memory, joining the likes of former Tennessee and Kansas State running back Bryce Brown, who was the No. 1 overall recruit in 2009, and former Florida defensive end Ronald Powell, the No. 1 prospect in 2010 who had his college career thrown off track by an ACL injury as a junior.

"I'm always constantly reminding him that we can't go back," Garner said. "We can't take two steps forward and then take one step back. We ain't getting where we want to go. We just need to keep taking steps forward."