Auburn football: Former Tiger wideout headed back to the Big 12

After announcing his decision to transfer from the program earlier this year, former Auburn wideout Zach Farrar has chosen his new destination.

Zach Farrar just can’t seem to find a permanent home. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound wideout announced his decision to transfer from Auburn back in July. That’s totally fine, players decide to transfer all the time. However, Farrar has had a pretty unique college football journey and after announcing that he would walk on at TCU this fall, Farrar will be joining his fifth team since graduating high school.

Coming out of high school, Farrar was a three-star wide receiver prospect out of Southlake, Texas who held offers from Oklahoma, Washington, Mississippi State, Iowa and many others. In the end, the big-bodied pass-catcher chose the Mississippi State before later flipping to the Sooners.

After redshirting for his freshman season in Norman, Farrar decided to take the JUCO route and enrolled at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. After catching just 11 passes for 266 yards and four TDs in junior college, Farrar failed to receive much interest from Division-I schools.

So, instead, Farrar committed to FCS Youngstown State. In his lone season with the Penguins, the former three-star recruit caught 20 passes for 307 yards and one TD.

Although he wasn’t overly impressive at the FCS level, Farrar had the physical attributes and enough potential to earn an offer from Auburn.

Farrar enrolled on The Plains in 2019 as a grad transfer and despite showing flashes in practice, Farrar was buried on the depth chart behind players like Seth Williams, Will Hastings, Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove.

For the Tigers, Farrar appeared in just two games this past season. In those games, Farrar caught only three passes 41 yards. On the other hand, two of those catches were touchdowns — both from backup QB Cord Sandberg in garbage time wins.

Auburn returns three of their top four receivers from last season so Farrar was unlikely to have a big role in the Tigers’ offense in 2020. Therefore, it was more than understandable when Farrar announced his decision to leave The Plains this summer.

This week, Farrar finally chose his destination. The Horned Frogs of TCU. Although Texas Christian didn’t offer in high school or now, Farrar will have the chance to earn playing time as a walk on.

As for Farrar’s new team, the Horned Frogs finished last season with a 5-7 record— their first season with less than six wins since 2013. On top of that, TCU lost arguably their best offensive player from last season — Jalen Reagor.

In 2019, Reagor led the team with 43 catches for 611 yards and five touchdowns. The star wideout would go on to be a first round draft pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Without Reagor, Farrar joins a Horned Frog WR group that is talented but unproven. Farrar also joined the Big 12 which, as of now, is one of the three Power 5 conferences (along with the SEC and ACC) that are planning to play a football season this fall. Entering what will now be his fifth season of college football, Farrar better hope that experience will lead to some playing time as he returns to the same conference where he started his journey.