LOGAN — When you're a Division I football coach recruiting a player, you're just never quite certain how the statistics the athlete compiled against high school or junior college competition are going to translate to the next level.
Especially if they're not on the football field.
While Ron'quavion Tarver's numbers were good during his senior season at Glades Central High School in Belle Glade, Florida (30 receptions for 417 yards and six touchdowns), and equally solid during his freshman year at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas (44 catches for 508 yards and three touchdowns), the Aggie wide receiver's most telling statistics arguably came on the basketball court rather than the gridiron.
As a senior at Glades Central, Tarver was named the team MVP after averaging just 10.0 points per game, most likely because he also averaged 16.7 rebounds per night.
That stunning average probably goes a long ways in explaining how the 6-foot-3, 210-pound wideout came down with so many big catches for the Aggies during the 2016 season.
"We started to notice late in fall camp his ability to make competitive catches," USU head coach Matt Wells says of Tarver. "So many times in this league, receivers and DBs are even and it's who can use their body and come down with the ball.
"And (Tarver) has tremendous body control. He's got the ability to put his body between the defender and the ball. It's kind of like a power forward."
Tarver says he was always more focused on football than basketball and cracks that his big rebounding numbers came "because I used to miss my layups, so I'd just go grab 'em and put 'em back in."
"But it was mostly just playing big and going and getting the ball when it's in the air," Traver added.
That was certainly the case on the football field for the Aggies last year. In desperate need of a playmaker following the graduation of Hunter Sharp, Tarver emerged as a different kind of receiver — not as fast, but one with a great knack for high-pointing the ball and coming down with big receptions at key times.
Although the Aggies lost the game, 27-20, Tarver put together a break-out performance against Air Force on Sept. 24, snagging nine passes for 143 yards.
"We needed a guy at outside receiver to step up," Wells says. "He fit that role and made some big catches. And he also had some big catches taken away from him."
Tarver was ruled out of bounds on a potential 34-yard touchdown reception against the Falcons, even though replays showed that he arguably made the play. But even more tough to take was when Tarver was called for offensive pass interference in the end zone while snaring a potentially game-winning TD in Utah State's 24-21 loss to New Mexico on Nov. 12.
Although Wells had a tough time with the penalty being called and had a long chat with Mountain West officials the following Monday, he says Tarver moved on from the questionable call.
"He's a pretty calm kid," Wells noted. "He's kind of a smooth operator. It didn't phase him too much."
Tarver, who also went over 100 receiving yards in USU's loss to Wyoming, ended up leading the Aggies in every receiving category in 2016 with 46 receptions for 602 yards and three touchdowns. Twenty-four of those catches resulted in first downs, with nine of those coming on third down.
His 602 receiving yards were also the most by an Aggie underclassman since Stanley Morrison had 616 receiving yards in 2009, and his 46 receptions are tied with Pat Newman in 1987 for the most by a USU underclassman in school history.
"I feel like I shocked a lot of people," Tarver says of his first season at the Division I level. "But I can do way better. I've just got to push myself."
Wells hopes to see that from Tarver, as well, during the rest of spring practices and into the summer. The head coach says Tarver's body continues to change and get stronger through weight training, and he's excited to see what the wideout is able to do with his first complete offseason as an Aggie.
"I was really pleased with how he came into training camp and picked up the offense pretty well," Wells declares. "I thought he adjusted rather quickly to major college football, and he's got a bright, bright future ahead of him.
"He's still got a lot of work to do, but if he continues to work hard and have great practice habits and a competitive spirit about him, I think the guy is one of the better wideouts in the Mountain West."
Off the field, Tarver, who has a total of seven brothers and seven sisters, is rather quiet, preferring to let his game do the talking. And while he'll need to take on more a leadership role for the Aggies this coming season, Wells says he doesn't mind his big-play receiver's soft-spokenness.
"His demeanor is quiet, by nature," Wells says of Tarver. "But that's OK. He's a quiet competitor, is what he is.
"Just don't mistake Ron'quavion's lack of vocalness for a lack of competitiveness," Wells adds, "because that's absolutely not true."