Higgins On Championship Phase, Travis Etienne's Braces and Trevor Lawrence's Resiliency
CLEMSON—For Clemson wide receiver and the rest of the Tiger football team, November not only means cooler temperatures, it also means seasons have changed—from the primetime to championship.
“I’s championship phase right now," Higgins said. "It’s championship phase of the season, so we know we have to go out and have the right mindset at this point. We have to go out there and just ball out.
“We just keep being Clemson. We make sure we go out and practice well and then executing the game plan on game day.
While teammate Justyn Ross led Clemson with 1,000 receiving yards in 2018, no Clemson receiver found the end zone last season more than Tee Higgins. The Tennessee native recorded 12 receiving touchdowns, tied with two different seasons by Sammy Watkins for the second-most in a single season in school history. Higgins is primed for a run on some of the greats presently populating Clemson's all-time leaderboard for career receiving touchdowns. His 22-yard touchdown grab against Wofford was his 18th career touchdown reception, tying him for seventh in school history.
Higgins closed the 2018 campaign with at least one touchdown in each of Clemson's final four games. With a touchdown in the first game of 2019, he pushed his consecutive games streak to five, tied for the second-most in school history. He was six feet away from extending the streak to six in the second game of the season at Texas A&M, when he was brought down at the Texas A&M 2-yard line on a highlight-reel 29-yard reception.
“My goal is to never drop a pass," Higgins said. "If I drop a pass it’s my fault not the quarterbacks. I just keep going in with the same mindset that I’m going to catch every ball that comes to me.”
Higgins on Etienne from freshman year to now
“I had no idea he’d be like this. He came in freshman year with the braces, shoot I really thought he was looking like a walk-on. He came in smiling just saying ‘hey, I’m Travis.’ After that our bond just got closer and closer.”
“He’s definitely humble. That guy is just so humble. After the game he gave a little speech just saying he wouldn’t be able to do it without us, his offensive line man and receivers blocking for him so he’s definitely humble.”
Higgins on Lawrence criticism:
“Oh we knew he had it in him. He’s actually showing it now and he’s building his confidence up more and more every game.”
