Tee Higgins kept his promise to his mother

Tee Higgins caught a team-high 59 receptions last season

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Aug 07 17:38:23 GMT-04:00 2019

CLEMSON – Tee Higgins played each of the last two seasons a little lighter than he would like, and he promised his mother he would be at least 215 pounds at last week’s big weigh-in.

The promise was kept with a few pounds to spare.

“I went into this summer saying that I want to get stronger. Obviously, I didn’t weigh that much last season, playing at 210,” Higgins said earlier this week. “I want to play at what I weighed in a couple of days back. It’s going into the weight room and grinding. It’s a big deal for me. I made a promise to mom that I would be 215 at the big weigh-in, and I was 217."

Higgins caught 17 passes for 345 yards during his freshman campaign and led the Tigers in receptions a year ago with 59 for 936 yards (second behind Justyn Ross’ 1000 yards). In 2019, he wants to take that production a step further.

“I keep the same mindset, to keep getting better. I can be better than I was last year and my freshman year.,” Higgins said. “I keep getting better and better, and I keep working harder and harder every day.”

Confidence level of the offense

“It all started in the spring. Trevor is getting more and confident as the practices go on and we've got the young guys at receiver now. The vets are encouraging them to stay in the books and just keep grinding.”

Higgins on Diondre Overton taking over as slot receiver

“With Hunter (Renfrow) and them gone, it’s going to be different. We are going to have to get used to it and get adjusted to it. Diondre (Overton) should be good going in there and taking Hunter’s spot. Then Amari (Rodgers) is going to come back soon, and we’ll be just fine.”

On what he’s seen out of the freshmen

“Those guys are improving. They are getting better and better every day. We go in the film room and see what they did wrong. They come out the next day and notice what they did wrong and do it better than what they did. Seeing those guys asking the vets questions, is showing their leadership as freshmen because they want to get better.”

Higgins on the freshmen asking questions

“Let’s say defense is playing a tricky coverage, they start off in man and drop back into Cover 2. `They ask what they should do in that situation and I’ll give them pointers.”