Rejoice, Ram fans.
It sounds like Rashard “Hollywood” Higgins is going to return to play his senior year with Colorado State football.
According to Eric Galko’s source, Higgins is working with Rams head coach Mike Bobo to finalize his decision this week.
Colorado St WR Rashard Higgins is leaning towards returning for senior season, per source. Meeting with HC this week to finalize decision.
— Eric Galko (@EricGalko) January 11, 2016
Galko is the Sporting News’ lead for NFL Draft content, so he’s busy looking into which players are going to stay in college and which are looking to move up and into the NFL.
@agentlinton Moreso an injury question answer.
— Eric Galko (@EricGalko) January 11, 2016
Higgins battled injuries all year long, finally getting healthy near the end of the 2015 campaign. It was a hamstring at first and may have moved all the way down to his ankle, only the receiver knows for sure, but it sounds like he feels good about his health and returning for one final season.
Following the Rams NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl loss, Higgins said he didn’t want to talk about his pending decision. When we last talked to him, on Dec. 17, Higgins said to “stay tuned.”
And, in his post-season wrap-up interview, Bobo said he was flying down to Dallas with wide receivers coach Alvis Whitted to meet with Higgins and the star wideout’s mother to discuss all the information available. That information, it seems, was an update on Higgins’ health.
For “Hollywood” Higgins, there will already be a star on the walk of fame around Colorado State’s new on-campus stadium in 2017. He’s the career leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns for the school and, really, no one would be surprised if he left Fort Collins for the NFL Draft.
But, Higgins isn’t a completely polished product, yet, either.
While he was a consensus All-American in 2014, his production dropped off in 2015. There were many reasons why — health, changing of coaches and offensive schemes, losing quarterback Garrett Grayson to the NFL — and one of the most major was Higgins’ maturity.
Without directly calling him out, Bobo mentioned Higgins was practicing better at the end of the season and quarterback Nick Stevens agreed. Higgins, it seems, was taking it a bit easy earlier in the year, whether that was due to injury or feeling secure in knowing he’s the top receiver in the Mountain West, or a combination of both. We’ll never really know.
What we do know is Higgins turned it on as the season wound down, he went off and the Rams went on a four-game winning streak leading up to the Arizona Bowl.
Higgins could be the Belitnikoff Award winner in 2016 — which he was a runner-up in 2014 — and “Hollywood” is so skilled he could earn All-American status again this season. Those personal accolades — along with going out as a winner with Colorado State — could be pushing him back to the Rams.
If Higgins were to play at or near that 2014 level again — which would be helped if Bobo’s offense would throw him a few more bubble screens — he could be an All-American and boost his draft stock even further.
If one were to throw out a guess, Higgins would be drafted in the mid-rounds, 3-5, if he declared for the NFL Draft now. Another All-American season could mean a 1-3 round selection.
For Ram Nation, we hope “Hollywood” Higgins comes back and delights Fort Collins for one more season. Updates on his official decision when it happens.
