Packer Central

After Rookie Camp, Packers Sign Receiver Who Took Long Road to NFL

The Green Bay Packers have signed rookie receiver Julian Hicks, one of the tryout candidates at the rookie minicamp.

Bill Huber

Julian Hicks scores against Baylor.
Julian Hicks scores against Baylor. / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have signed receiver Julian Hicks, one of 18 players who participated in the rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.

His signing was reported by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein. A source confirmed the signing to Packer Central, who noted Hicks’ size and speed. The Packers didn’t draft a receiver, nor did they sign one immediately after the draft, so Hicks will be the main addition.

The Packers also signed Dimitri Stanley.

As a graduate student at Albany in 2023, Hicks caught 50 passes for 820 yards (16.4 average) and 11 touchdowns. A big chunk of the production came in back-to-back game against New Hampshire and Rhode Island, with four catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns and seven catches for 188 yards and two more touchdowns in those games.

“It means a lot. They trust me,” Hicks said at midseason. “They depend on me. (Quarterback Reese Poffenbarger), he’s helping me tremendously, putting confidence in me every day. The coaches putting confidence in me every day at practice and continuing to just tell me to take one step at a time, so it’s a blessing, for sure.”

Albany reached the FCS semifinals; in the season-ending loss to eventual national champion South Dakota State, he caught seven passes for 76 yards.

At pro day, he measured 6-foot-1 7/8 and 201 pounds, with a 4.53 in the 40 and a 36 1/2-inch vertical.

It was a circuitous route to the NFL for Hicks, who played at Central Michigan in 2018 and Akron in 2019 in 2020. In 2018, the Chippewas went 1-11 and changed coaches. In 2019, the Zips went 0-12. In 2020, he caught two passes during the COVID-shortened season.

From there, he transferred to Albany. In 2021, he missed the start of the season due to thumb surgery. In his season debut, he stepped on a defender and tore a ligament in his ankle, which ended his season.

“I really didn't know how to feel at the time,” Hicks told The Times Union. “I wanted to stop playing football. I told Coach G (Greg Gattuso) the following day I might have been done with it, but he told me to give it some time to think on it. So, I did, and I kept praying and now I'm here. So (I'm) just blessed.”

In 2022, he caught 24 passes for 345 yards. He had the only touchdown in a loss at powerhouse Baylor and scored the game-winning touchdown on the final play against Maine.

Now, he’s got the payoff with a spot on the Packers’ 90-man roster and an opportunity compete when OTAs begin on May 20.

“Just a lot of adversity going through my career,” Hicks said in The Times Union story. “Transferring schools and being a walk-on [at Akron], it was a lot. And then finally coming here to Albany and getting hurt, being out the whole season, it was tough for me. You know, I was going through a lot. So, I'm just blessed to be able to be back out there. It was overwhelming at first because it's just been so long. It was definitely a great feeling.”

The Packers did not draft a receiver last week. They entered the rookie camp with 10 receivers under contract, including former quarterback Alex McGough. With Hicks and Stanley, that number is up to 12.

Green Bay Packers Rookies

Rookie Camp: Day 1 | Broken toe for Oladapo | Michael Pratt | Tryout players

All-Star Scouts: Jordan Morgan | Edgerrin Cooper | Javon Bullard | MarShawn Lloyd | Ty’Ron Hopper | Evan Williams, Kitan Oladapo

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.