Johnny "J. J." Huggins (born March 29, 1976) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lin ...

and attended Northeast High School in

Zachary, Louisiana Zachary is a city in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies north of the city of Baton Rouge, and had a population of 14,960 at the 2010 census, up from 11,275 in 2000. At the 2020 census, Zachary's population increased to ...

. He was also a member of the Las Vegas Outlaws,

Rhein Fire Rhein may refer to: Places * Rhine, a major river in Europe (german: Rhein, link=no) * Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland Ships * SM ...

and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

Early years

Huggins attended Northeast High School, where he was a three-sport athlete. He was named All-state in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and All-district in football. He accepted a football scholarship from

. He had 6 receptions for 94 yards as a freshman. The next year, he saw action at quarterback and tight end, registering 8 receptions for 94 yards and one receiving touchdown, 25 out of 69 completions for 395 yards, 3 passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and 3 interceptions. As a junior, he made 15 receptions for 196 yards and one touchdown. He recorded 42 receptions for 506 receiving yards (second on the team), 593 all purpose yards (second on the team) and 6

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s his senior year in 1998, earning First-team All-SWAC honors.

Professional career

Las Vegas Outlaws

Huggins was selected by the Las Vegas Outlaws with the 149th pick in the XFL Draft and played for the Outlaws during the 2001 season.

Dallas Cowboys/Rhein Fire

On February 7,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, he was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

. He was allocated to

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

and played for the

, tallying 16 receptions for 167 yards, while helping

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Pepe Pearson Pepe Pearson (born December 11, 1975) is a former American football tailback, starting in college for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and is currently the running backs coach for the Tennessee State Tigers. Playing career A four-year letterwinner at ...

finish second in the league in rushing (597 yards). In the 2001 season, he played in ten games (2 starts), making 8 receptions for 36 yards.

Houston Texans

Huggins was selected by the Houston Texans with the 19th pick in the

2002 NFL expansion draft The 2002 National Football League expansion draft is the most recent National Football League (NFL) draft in which a new expansion team, named the Houston Texans, selected its first players. On October 6, 1999, in Atlanta, NFL owners had unanimou ...

. He was released by the Texans on May 20, 2002.

Dallas Cowboys

Huggins signed with the Dallas Cowboys on June 1, 2002 and was released by the team on August 11.

Personal life

Huggins is the nephew of former NFL player Doug Williams. He has also worked as an agent for

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Overview State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the la ...

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huggins, Johnny Living people 1976 births Players of American football from Louisiana American football tight ends African-American players of American football Alabama State Hornets football players Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL) players Rhein Fire players Dallas Cowboys players 21st-century American businesspeople American businesspeople in insurance Insurance agents African-American businesspeople Businesspeople from Louisiana People from Zachary, Louisiana 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Sportspeople from East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana