Quiet Tee is a Bad Tee
CLEMSON–If there is one thing that Saturday's 52-3 domination of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons should tell future opponents is that a quiet Tee HIggins is a bad Tee Higgins. Bad for the opposing team that is.
Before Saturday's game, Higgins was not his normal self and co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was worried about him. But the people who should have been worried about Higgins was Wake Forest's defense.
"Tee was really quiet around the hotel, especially today," Elliott said. "I went up to him right before we got on the bus and asked him, 'Everything OK? You all right?' He said, 'Coach I'm just locked in.' He's a guy that has had a lot of success, but he understands for this team to accomplish what it's set out to do and for him individually to accomplish what he's set out to do, he has to have a certain level of focus and intensity.
"He just had a different look to him. I saw a little bit of change in his body language, and I just wanted to make sure it was for the right reasons."
Higgins has already accomplished more in his three years at Clemson than most wide receivers accomplish in a career.
He entered 2019 with 76 career receptions for 1,281 yards with 14 receiving touchdowns and was selected as a second-team Preseason All-American for 2019 by both Phil Steele and Athlon.
Higgins caught four passes for 64 yards and three touchdowns, recorded the eighth three-touchdown receiving performance in school history, matching Dreher Gaskin (vs. Auburn on Nov. 21, 1953), Tony Horne (vs. Texas-El Paso on Oct. 4, 1997), Rod Gardner (vs. North Carolina on Oct. 21, 2000), DeAndre Hopkins (vs. Ball State on Sept. 8, 2012, and vs. Duke on Nov. 3, 2012), Mike Williams (vs. South Carolina on Nov. 28, 2016) and Diondre Overton (vs. Boston College on Oct. 26, 2019) for the school record in single-game touchdown receptions.
The receiving touchdowns were Higgins’ 20th, 21st and 22nd of his career, passing Mike Williams (21 from 2013-16) for third-most career touchdown receptions in school history, and has caught a touchdown in three straight games for the first time this season. He caught touchdown passes in five straight games across the final four games of the 2018 season and the 2019 season opener.
The game was Higgins’ first of the season with multiple touchdown receptions, the fourth such performance of his career. His three touchdown receptions surpassed his career high, set against The Citadel in 2017 and against Florida State and Pitt in 2018.
"Tee Higgins [got] three touchdowns. I’m really proud of him," co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. "He’s done a good job attacking the ball; he’s been playing well and finally got some good opportunities today.
“The first time he’s dropped the ball all year was last week. So, it was good to see him go out there and make some big plays — not just a normal play. I mean, those were some nice catches, had to really go attack the ball in good coverage. He’s been playing very, very well. It’s just the way our season has gone. We’re running the ball, got a lot of guys out there. We haven’t really had to force the ball to him this year. But he knows his time is coming, especially as we get into this championship phase of our season. So I thought it was great for him and Trevor to have a big day together."
The impact of having a player with the talent and the caliber of Higgins is not lost on quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
“On any given night any of those guys can make plays," Lawrence said. "Tee’s a great player and it’s something you work on at practice and we had a really good week of prep. We knew certain things were gonna be there and all of our receivers can play different positions so we don't know who it’s gonna be all the time but Tee was the guy who got it today and he did a really good job.”
