Lehigh Acres (Fla.) Lehigh Senior athlete Tar’varish Dawson is a speedy prospect in the class of 2021 with two dozen scholarship offers, well over half of which he has collected this year as his recruitment has taken off.
The four-star prospect per 247Sports is now drawing interest from Clemson, too, and recently began communicating with the Tigers.
“I heard from them two days ago,” Dawson told The Clemson Insider on Thursday. “I heard from the whole defensive staff two days ago.”
Dawson, a track star in addition to a standout football player, ran a 10.58 100-meter dash at a meet in February. The 5-foot-11, 170-pounder is being recruited to play receiver and/or defensive back by his various suitors.
The Tigers like him a lot as a cornerback.
“They said that they would love to get to know me,” Dawson said, “and they love my highlights and they love the way I play.”
Dawson is high on Clemson as well and hails from Fort Myers, Fla., the city that produced former Tigers’ All-American wideout Sammy Watkins.
“He’s from the same city as me and did some great things there,” Dawson said. “A lot of great players came from that school, and I love the style they play with, the offensive style and defensive style. It’s a great school and great program.”
Schools such as Auburn, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Kentucky and Pittsburgh have offered Dawson this year, joining Miami, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State and Maryland among others on his list.
Where would the Tigers stand in his recruitment if they were to enter the mix with an offer?
“They’d definitely be up top, like top three,” he said.
Dawson has only been to Maryland, Miami and UCF so far but has several more visits in mind he wants to make after the NCAA’s dead period ends. Right now, all on- and off-campus recruiting is suspended through May 31 due to COVID-19.
“I would love to check out Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn and Alabama,” he said.
Dawson hopes to make a commitment before his senior season, though he isn’t sure if that will happen.
“Maybe right towards the end of the summer, but I don’t know yet because of the corona thing that’s going on, so I don’t know,” he said.
Among the schools that have offered, Dawson feels Miami, Louisville and Auburn are recruiting him the hardest right now.
As a junior last season, Dawson recorded 499 receiving yards and six touchdowns on offense to go with three interceptions on defense.
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