Tamaurice William "Tee" Higgins (born January 18, 1999) is an

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 ...

wide receiver for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

of 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 ...

(NFL). 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 ...

at Clemson, where he won the

2019 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game that determined a national champion in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2018 season. It was played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, ...

as a sophomore, and was drafted by the Bengals with the 33rd overall pick in the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

Early years

Higgins attended Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As a senior, he had 68 receptions for 1,044 yards and 18

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

. A five star recruit, Higgins originally committed to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

to play college football before changing to

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

. Higgins also played basketball in high school and was offered scholarships to play

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

by numerous schools.

College career

As a freshman at Clemson in 2017, Higgins played in 13 games and had 17 receptions for 345 yards and two touchdowns. Higgins entered his sophomore season in 2018 as a starter. In the

College Football Playoff National Championship The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season. ...

, he had three receptions for 81 yards in the 44–16 victory over

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. He finished with 59 receptions for 936 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns. In his junior season, Higgins had 1,167 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns as his team finished with a 14–1 record, making it all the way to the

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

, which Clemson lost to

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

by a score of 42–25. Higgins had a 36-yard rushing touchdown and caught 3 passes for 52 yards in the game. Higgins decided to forgo his final year of eligibility and declare for the

Collegiate statistics

Professional career

In the

, Higgins was selected by the

in the second round with the 33rd overall pick. On July 28, 2020, Higgins signed his rookie deal, a four-year contract worth $8.6 million.

2020

Higgins made his NFL debut in Week 1 of the 2020 season against the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

. In Week 2, he recorded his first three professional receptions for 35 yards against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

on ''

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...

''. In Week 3, against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

, Higgins had five receptions for 40 yards and his first two professional receiving touchdowns in the 23–23 tie. In Week 6 against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

, he had six receptions for 125 receiving yards in the 31–27 loss. In Week 10 against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, he had seven receptions for 115 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown during the 36–10 loss. Higgins finished his rookie season with 67 receptions for 908 yards and six receiving touchdowns. His 67 catches tied a Bengals rookie record set by

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...

in 1981. The record would end up being broken the following year by rookie wide receiver

Ja'Marr Chase Ja'Marr Anthony Chase (born March 1, 2000) is an American football wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU, where he won the Fred Biletnikoff Award and the 2020 College Fo ...

, with 81 receptions. His 908 receiving yards ranked him third among all rookie receivers in 2020, behind

Justin Jefferson Justin Jamal Jefferson (born June 16, 1999) is an American football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU Tigers football, LSU and was drafted by the Vikings in the first ...

and

CeeDee Lamb Cedarian DeLeon "CeeDee" Lamb (born April 8, 1999) is an American football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oklahoma where he was a consensus All-American in 2019 and w ...

2021

Prior to the start of the season, Higgins announced that following the

2021 NFL season The 2021 NFL season was the 102nd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season was the first to feature a 17-game regular season schedule as the league expanded the season from 16 games. The regular season started on September 9, ...

he would be changing his jersey number from 85 to 5. Higgins finished his 2021 regular season with 74 receptions for 1,091 yards and six receiving touchdowns in 14 games played, improving upon his rookie season. In the Divisional Round against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

, Higgins recorded 7 receptions for 96 yards in the 19–16 win. In the

AFC Championship Game The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

, Higgins caught six passes for 103 yards, leading the Bengals in receiving yards in the 27–24 overtime win to advance to

Super Bowl LVI Super Bowl LVI was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2021 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Los Angeles Rams defeated the American Football Conference ...

. In Super Bowl LVI, Higgins scored the Bengals' first touchdown of the game, a 6-yard pass from

Joe Mixon Joseph Tyler Mixon (born July 24, 1996) is an American football running back for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oklahoma, where he was a first-team All-Big 12, and was selected by the ...

. On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Higgins scored a 75-yard touchdown pass, his second touchdown of the game. Higgins finished the game catching 4 passes for 100 yards, the most receiving yards by a player on either team in the 23–20 loss.

2022

In Week 1 against the

, Higgins caught 2 passes for 27 yards before leaving the game in the second quarter with a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

. In Week 4 against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

, Higgins had 7 receptions for 124 yards, including a touchdown.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

References

External links

Cincinnati Bengals bioClemson Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Tee 1999 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American players of American football American football wide receivers Cincinnati Bengals players Clemson Tigers football players People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee