Tar'Varish Dawson 'might be the most improved young player' for Auburn

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WR Tar'Varish Dawson 'might be the most improved young player' for Auburn

Published: Aug. 05, 2022, 10:20 a.m.

6-8 minutes

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Eric Kiesau noticed a change in Tar’Varish Dawson Jr.’s demeanor about midway through last season.

The affable freshman receiver often walked around Auburn’s athletics complex with a smile and a jolt of personality. Then, one day, Kiesau saw something missing from the former four-star prospect; he wasn’t acting like his usual self. Dawson wasn’t pouting or sulking, but after failing to see the field to that point in his first college season, he started to get down on himself.

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“He thought he was going to come here and start and play right now, and then it didn’t work out, and it kind of got down in the tank,” Kiesau recalled.

That’s when Kiesau pulled him to the side for a pep talk. Kiesau, who opened last year as an offensive analyst working with Auburn’s receivers before taking over as wide receivers coach a month into the season following the firing of Cornelius Williams, knew the kind of player Dawson was. He recognized his raw ability, but he also knew the speedy freshman needed to put in the work and earn his keep.

It was something Dawson hadn’t quite realized to that point — at least not until his heart-to-heart with Kiesau, who assured him that things would work out. Dawson just needed to learn the right way to go about his practice habits, and with that would come the requisite knowledge — as well as the traits that could make him an SEC-caliber receiver on the field.

“Boom, instantly, the next day, big smile on his face, rolling,” Kiesau said. “I’m telling you, ever since he made that decision, he’s just been getting better and better and better.”

Dawson’s stock has been on the rise this offseason, and he heads into preseason practices as one of the top breakout candidates on Auburn’s offense — and at a position that head coach Bryan Harsin said is wide open when it comes to starting jobs and rotational roles.

Kiesau, now entering his first season as Auburn’s offensive coordinator, said Dawson “might be the most improved young player on offense” this offseason. He put together a strong spring, which he capped with three receptions for 28 yards and a 7-yard carry during the A-Day spring game while leading the Tigers in targets and receptions. During SEC Media Days last month, Harsin described Dawson as a “completely different player” than he was a year ago and identified him as someone who has the kind of big-play potential that Auburn desperately needs at the wide receiver position.

“He has good hands, and he can track the ball,” Kiesau said. “Like I said, I’m excited. And we have to be creative with how we use him. Really. We do. But we’ll find ways.”

The Tigers are replacing two of their top-three receivers from last season, with Kobe Hudson now at UCF and Demetris Robertson’s eligibility exhausted. Outside of fifth-year senior Shedrick Jackson, who was the team’s second-leading receiver in 2021, Auburn doesn’t have much experience or proven playmakers at the position heading into the season.

That’s where Dawson will have his opportunity, along with a slew of other returners and newcomers in the room. Expectations appear to be mounting for Dawson, though, especially after some of the potential he flashed when he first arrived on campus last year.

Dawson, rated as the nation’s No. 22 athlete coming out of high school, made a fast impression a year ago during fall camp with his speed and big-play ability. It was enough to earn him the designation of being the only freshman to appear on Auburn’s official two-deep depth chart entering the season opener, earning a spot behind Ja’Varrius Johnson at slot receiver.

Prior to the season-opener, though, Dawson entered COVID protocols, which sidelined him in Week 1 against Akron. He was “available” for the Alabama State game the following week, but he fell behind and struggled to get up to speed, falling out of the rotation at receiver in the process.

He didn’t make his season debut until the Birmingham Bowl against Houston, and while he did not record a catch in that game, he was targeted on a deep ball downfield that could have produced a touchdown on the opening play of a fourth-quarter drive, but the pass was overthrown by T.J. Finley.

Though he did not contribute as a true freshman, Dawson appears set on changing that this season.

“He’s a fun kid, like he’s fun to be around, he’s got great personality, great spunk, all those things like that,” Harsin said. “I think he’s just decided ‘Look, I want to play, and if I want to play, I’ve got to know my stuff. I got to be in the right spot. I got to do the right things. I got to make the plays I’m supposed to make.’ And he’s a competitor, and I think that’s what young players go through.

“You’ve got to kind of understand when players come in here — and I told him this all the time — is, you know, you get into that kind of beer-commercial lifestyle, where everything’s all fun and ‘I’m just going to class, no parents around,’ all these other things like that, and it’s like no, you’ve got work to do. And I think that comes from your peers, too.”

While Dawson has taken it upon himself to change his habits and do what’s needed of him to see the field, Harsin also credited the team’s overall improved leadership in helping facilitate the change in Dawson. Now, with Auburn taking the field for the first time Friday and less than a month to go until the season opener against Mercer, Dawson will have his chance to be a factor at receiver — just like he hoped to a year ago.

“He’s taking a better approach to where, when he first got here, he was so much faster and more athletic than everybody he could just beat people, but now he’s starting to study the game, so I can take my athletic ability and use that at the receiver position,” Kiesau said. “It’s going to be fun to kind of watch him progress and see where it goes, because he has the ability.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[GAAubie 512]

Tar'Varish is the player that I have been looking forward to seeing on the field the most. I hope that he continues to improve and SHOWS OUT!