Auburn receiver Tar'varish Dawson announces plans to enter transfer portal
For the second time in two days, an Auburn receiver has announced his plans to enter the transfer portal.
Wednesday, it was Landen King.
Thursday, Tar’varish Dawson followed.
Dawson, who signed with the Tigers in the 2021 class, shared his plans via Twitter. He has just two catches for 30 yards this season.
Coming out of Lehigh Acres (Fla.) Lehigh Senior, Dawson was the No. 48 recruit in the state of Florida in the On3 Consensus and had a 4-star rating. As a senior in high school, he had 28 receptions for 690 yards with nine touchdowns.
He committed to the Tigers on May 15, 2020.
Then-offensive coordinator Chad Morris, who had a strong history of recruiting in southwest Florida, was Dawson’s recruiter of record. After Auburn’s coach at the time, Gus Malzahn was fired (along with Morris and others) following the 2020 season, Dawson did consider other schools but ultimately signed with the Tigers and new coach Bryan Harsin on Feb. 3, 2021. He then enrolled that July.
Dawson redshirted in 2021, but was expected to make an impact with the Auburn offense this season. In fact, some viewed him as having the potential for a breakout season.
Tigers offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau said this about him in March: “Of all the receivers, he’s probably made the biggest jump in improvement from when he first got here until now. He’s extremely talented, he’s just very raw. When he continues to learn the position, learn all the details of route running, releases, he can be really, really special. Is he there yet? No. Is he working towards it? Absolutely. Even the first day, you can tell when someone has spent some time on their end and studied the playbook by how they carry themself. Last year, he was just swimming trying to figure it out on the fly. Now, he looks more at ease, looked more dialed, if that makes sense. I’m excited to continue to grow him moving forward, he can be fun to watch.”
But now seven games into the season Dawson hasn’t had a significant role in the Auburn offense.
He had one catch for 8 yards in Auburn’s season opener vs. Mercer and one catch for 22 yards the following week against San Jose State. Dawson hasn’t recorded a reception since.
Additionally, he rushed for a combined 10 yards on two attempts in those two games.
We will continue to update this story.
