Tee Higgins states case for best Clemson receiver of the decade

CHARLOTTE – When you cover a team that has won 28 consecutive games, including the last eight by at least 30 points, the press box can quickly turn into a barber shop. The debates become more engaging and entertaining than the lopsided action on the field.

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Clemson receiver Tee Higgins sparked an intriguing discussion Saturday night during the Tigers’ 62-17 rout of Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game. He amassed seven receptions for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

In the first half.

After his first touchdown — a simple outside route on which he erased a deep cushion and sprinted easily past an overmatched defensive back — my former colleague Brad Senkiw asked me where Higgins would rank among the Clemson receivers I have watched while covering the program the last nine seasons.

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My initial response was to slot Higgins fourth. I acknowledged that my reasoning was wrapped in nostalgia. Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins broke records while propelling Clemson to national prominence.

Mike Williams followed those two legends and redefined the prototypical Clemson receiver. He initiated a lineage of perimeter power forwards who could negate perfect coverage by soaring over defenders.

Yet, the more intently I observed Higgins on Saturday night, the more I recollected his outstanding three-year career, the more I considered Senkiw’s argument, the higher Higgins climbed on my chart.

He is not simply the natural evolution of the Clemson receiver. He is a brilliant amalgamation of his predecessors.

Like Watkins, Higgins can explode out of cuts and dart away from defenders. Like Hopkins, he can snag passes in heavy traffic. Like Williams, he can snatch alley-oops over solid coverage.

Higgins operates with the balance, force and grace of a gymnast. He runs precise routes. He catches everything thrown within the same county.

Higgins closed the evening with nine receptions, 182 yards, three touchdowns and the ACC Championship Game MVP award.

Higgins ncreased his career touchdown total to 27, which tied Hopkins and Watkins for the most in Clemson history. Higgins moved into the Top 10 among Clemson receivers in career yardage. He has amassed 2,363 yards, including 1,082 this season. He became the first Clemson receiver to catch multiple touchdowns in three consecutive games.

Higgins’ greatness certainly has not been overlooked. Defensive coordinators certainly recognize his prowess. But as a team, Clemson has been so dominant for so long, Higgins’ individual virtuosity can easily be taken for granted.

He has been so consistently spectacular that it now appears routine. He tight-roped the sideline in the second quarter to make a catch that most of us could not recreate in the backyard with a Nerf ball. If we ranked the best catches of Higgins’ career, that one may not even crack the Top 10.

Hopkins contributed the most important catch in Clemson’s construction phase. His sliding snag on fourth-and-16 against Louisiana State in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl was the down payment on the manor Clemson built in college football's elite gated neighborhood.

Williams soared for a catch to extend the final drive of the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Alabama. That set up Hunter Renfrow’s game-winning touchdown catch.

Higgins does not have that signature championship moment, because Clemson has not needed one from him. Clemson won the last two ACC title games and its last two College Football Playoff games by an average margin of 33 points.

Many Clemson receivers will live in lore. Higgins can easily be lost in it.

Clemson’s revered lineage includes Watkins and Hopkins, Martavis Bryant and Adam Humphries, Mike Williams and Deon Cain, Artavis Scott and Hunter Renfrow, Justyn Ross and Amari Rodgers. That is just the past decade.

Yet, in that Pantheon of playmakers, Higgins can stand at the top. Shoulder to shoulder with the legends, if not slightly above them.

When these barbershop debates arise, the record book should not be the only one that repeats his name.