Auburn football: Why Ja’Varrius Johnson left transfer portal to stay on Plains
Auburn football couldn’t afford to lose as many wide receivers as it almost did this offseason with the exodus of Kobe Hudson to the transfer portal (and ultimately UCF) and Demetris Robertson to the NFL.
Shaun Shivers transferring to Indiana sent away another reliable pass-catcher, so when Ja’Varrius Johnson entered the portal in February, it appeared as though the Tigers were destined to lose four of their seven top receiving leaders from a season ago.
Luckily, Johnson decided to stick around, though, avoiding a pile-on of unfortunate portal news for a program that was going through it during that time due to an Auburn University Board of Trustees-organized inquiry of head coach Bryan Harsin.
As it turns out, it was Harsin himself that convinced Johnson to withdraw his name from the transfer portal and enter a second year representing the orange and blue on the Plains during the 2022 season:
Ja'Varrius Johnson on his decision to enter the transfer portal in February but ultimately return to auburn: "I'm here for Harsin and stand by Harsin. I like him and think he's a really great coach."
— Tom Green (@Tomas_Verde) August 24, 2022
Auburn football receivers have golden opportunity in 2022
With T.J. Finley looking like the likely starter at least for Week 1 against Mercer, Auburn football receivers will have a golden opportunity to establish chemistry with a quarterback who doesn’t yet have a preferred target — and that goes doubly if Robby Ashford or Zach Calzada make a late push to become QB1.
Transfers like Koy Moore and Dazalin Worsham are not behind for being first-year Tigers and neither is the freshman class of Camden Brown, Jay Fair, and Omari Kelly. First-year receiver Landen King, a tight end last year, is in the same boat.
The first two weeks of the season against an FCS squad and a projected Mountain West bottom-feeder should be of interest to at least see who is going to stand out early in an inexperienced receiving corps.