Photo by Austin Silvey
By now you've probably heard of Tee Higgins, the 6-4, 200 lb sophomore wide receiver out of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. But if the rock you've been living under has just now opened up for you to crawl out from under it, here's a look into what you can expect from Higgins in the 2018 season.
In the Orange & White Spring Game held on Saturday, April 14, Higgins caught four passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. His first touchdown of the day came off the arm of young phenom quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, on a 50 yard bomb downfield where Higgins beat his defender Mark Fields.
The second came from Hunter Johnson on an 18 yard touchdown pass. All of his catches came in the first quarter but even in that small sample size, he showed off again how athletic and dominant he can and will be at the receiver position.
Higgins is often compared to former Georgia wide receiver, AJ Green, who is with the Cincinatti Bengals in the NFL. The comparison is uncanny. They share the same height, body type and abilities.
Higgins has a tremendous catch radius and his soft hands, heighth and length assist him on 50/50 balls down the field. His speed isn’t groundbreaking but he is quick enough to stretch the field and get behind opposing defenses.
As a freshman last season, Higgins caught 17 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns; averaged 20.3 yards per catch. His playing time was cut short in the Sugar Bowl vs Alabama due to an injury to his leg trying to catch a pass in the endzone in the second quarter.
He's shown the flashes. Now going into his sophomore season, with Deon Cain and Ray Ray McCloud departing for the NFL, it's his time to step up into that "star" role in the wide receiver corp. He will be looked to as 'The Guy' this season and I have no doubt he will flourish.
There is no shortage of quarterbacks on this Clemson team and all have tremendous ability. Whoever gets the nod at QB1 in 2018 will have a lot of fun getting the ball to Higgins and the other receiving talent as well like Overton, Thompson, Renfrow, Rodgers and so on.
Before all is said and done, I believe Higgins has the potential, as long as he can stay healthy and develops like I think he will, to be the best wide receiver at Clemson this century, possibly ever.
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