The Cincinnati Bengals picked former Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins in the second round of the NFL draft on Friday.
Higgins, a star football and basketball player at Oak Ridge High School, played three years at Clemson University in South Carolina before being drafted into the National Football League in the 33rd pick, the first pick of the second round on Friday.
Higgins, 21, joins Joe Burrow, the number one pick and a quarterback from Louisiana State University, at Cincinnati. Higgins was the second pick for the Bengals.
Higgins (6-4, 215) is tied with NFL stars Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins for the all-time touchdown record for a Clemson receiver (27). He caught 135 passes for 2,448 yards and 27 touchdowns during his three-year career, according to the Clemson Tigers. He played in two national championship games, winning one, the national championship game against Alabama in 2019. Higgins had three catches for 81 yards and a touchdown in that game.
Higgins had 59 catches for 1,167 yards and 13 touchdowns for Clemson last season. The Clemson Tigers lost to the LSU Tigers in this year’s national championship game.
At Cincinnati, Higgins joins receivers who include A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd, Auden Tate, and John Ross.
Bengals.com said Cincinnati was Higgins’ favorite team growing up, and one main reason was that he modeled his game after Green.
Higgins won a Tennessee Titans Mr. Football award two years in a row while playing for Oak Ridge. He was the first Oak Ridge football player to win the award in back-to-back years. He was only the second Mr. Football from Oak Ridge.
Higgins was also a finalist for Mr. Basketball in high school.
