Rivaldo Fairweather was always the biggest kid on the basketball court at Boyd Anderson High. He was a physical player who was less interested in jumpers than he was attacking the rim and throwing down an emphatic dunk.

With his size and his playing style came foul trouble. A lot of it. Fairweather fouled out more often than most on the team, and it got to the point where his coaches would joke with him that his skillset and mentality would be better suited for the football field than the basketball court. Fairweather always dabbled in football, but it was never something he took seriously.

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It was his junior year at Boyd Anderson when Fairweather finally took that advice to heart and transitioned from basketball to football — a decision that has worked out well for the former FIU tight end, who transferred to Auburn in the offseason and figures to be a key contributor for the Tigers in Year 1 under Hugh Freeze.

“I’m a late bloomer with football… but I’m a fast learner with football, so it’s really been fast,” Fairweather said Wednesday. “Every year, I learn different stuff. I just take it in, I study, just so I could take my game to the next level.”

That’s what he’s hoping to do at Auburn after spending the last three seasons at FIU. With the Panthers, Fairweather caught 54 passes for 838 yards and five touchdowns in three seasons but chose to hit the transfer portal Dec. 5.

When Fairweather’s name first appeared in the portal, he said it was a “crazy” experience, as his phone wouldn’t stop ringing. It’s a swift process, with little time to develop relationships and make a decision—especially for a player who hopes to be on campus for the start of spring ball.

“The second you’re eligible in the portal, the second your name finally gets put in the portal, stuff just happens quick and fast,” Fairweather said. “Like, a minute as soon as your name is in there, it’s crazy how much call you’ll get.”

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A couple of those calls came from Hugh Freeze and new Auburn tight ends coach Ben Aigamaua, who were already well-acquainted with Fairweather’s playmaking ability. Fairweather’s first career appearance at FIU came in 2020 against Liberty. He caught one pass for 22 yards, but his size and talent were evident, and Freeze did not forget about him.

After getting him on the phone, Auburn was quick to offer Fairweather a scholarship and prioritized him during the transfer window. Eleven days after he first appeared in the portal, Fairweather was on the Plains for an official visit. That’s when Freeze and Aigamaua were able to present their full pitch to him.

Part of that was highlighting how Freeze previously used tight ends of his stature during his time at Ole Miss, with Evan Engram (6-foot-3) and Dawson Knox (6-foot-4) as the prime examples. Less than two weeks after he hit the portal, and shortly after he wrapped up his visit on campus, Fairweather committed to Auburn.

“The ceiling is so high,” Aigamaua said of Fairweather. “…Athletically, gifted athlete. He can run, I think the ceiling is still high. The thing that comes with that is the blocking scheme, the footwork, all that comes with that and the techniques of it, we still have to get crisp in the things that we do. But man, he’s been impressive out there.”

While Fairweather is still relatively new to football, with just five years of experience under his belt, he views that as a positive. He doesn’t have bad habits that he developed at a young age, and he likes to think of himself as a very coachable player who earnestly listens to everything coaches are passing down to him in meetings and practices.

At Auburn now, Fairweather presents another weapon in the Tigers’ new-look offense, which is still largely a work in progress this spring. On the field, Fairweather is impossible to miss. At 6-foot-4 and 251 pounds, he’s one of the most physically imposing skill players on the roster, and Auburn hopes he can be the type of tight end who can be split out wide and stretch the field as a downfield threat or provide a big-bodied target in the red zone — something the offense has been missing in recent years.

“Adding Rivaldo to that room kind of — the expectations have kind of risen from the passing game to the run game, we’re very involved in what we do offensively,” Aigamaua said.

For his part, Fairweather categorized this as “probably the best spring” he has ever had, and he seems to be acclimating himself to his new program and new role in the Tigers’ tight end room—even is his inner basketball player hasn’t fully retired.

While reminiscing on his days on the court Wednesday, Fairweather said he needed to pull up his highlights from Boyd Anderson and show local reporters just what kind of player he was and the array of dunks he’d throw down in games. Though, he might still have some of those in his repertoire and even teased that, should he find the end zone on A-Day next month, he may have to dunk on the crossbar of the goal post at Jordan-Hare Stadium in celebration.

“I might go between the legs,” Fairweather laughed, “just for y’all.”

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