Why JAYDEN HIGGINS Was AN IMPOSSIBLE WR PICK For the TEXANS (His Insane Rise)

Why JAYDEN HIGGINS Was AN IMPOSSIBLE WR PICK For the TEXANS (His Insane Rise)

the subject of today’s video has one of the most impossible stories in this year’s draft class At one point Jaden Higgins was a two-star recruit who did not have a single FBS offer For some reason pretty much every big time program in the state of Florida decided to pass on him despite his obvious physical talent But instead he had to go the FCS route where after one year at Eastern Kentucky he leveraged his way into a power four offer at Iowa State Since then he became one of the best wide receivers in Iowa State Cyclones football history tore up the Big 12 and found himself going in the second round of the Houston Texans He signed a historic second round contract and is now seen as a key piece for the Texans future But how did Jaden Higgins get to this point well in today’s video we’re to go through his journey his rise from two star recruit to second round stud and his potential impact early on But before we get started if you’re a big fan of college football be sure to subscribe to the channel leave a like if you didn’t support today’s video and let me know what player team topic or situation I can cover next Now let’s get started and talk about Jaden Higgins So in order to talk about how Higgins got to this point we first need to go back in time down to the Florida area Jaden Higgins journey is a testament to the blend of relentless work and the talent necessary to make it to the league He became the first player from his high school to ever get picked in the NFL draft and will also become the first Westminster Christian alum to appear in an NFL game When you play your high school football down south and South Florida people think of guys like Dalvin Cook and Quan Balden or Nick Bosa Between the 305 and 954 the amount of star power that’s entered the draft and become stars has been abundant Early on Jaden Higgins worked hard He practiced on empty fields one day hoping of making it to the NFL and even worked with a trainer by the name of Ed Gant This was his longtime mentor and private coach who helped mold him into a future NFL draft pick But before Higgins grew into his frame and became an elite receiver he had to first commit to football as his main sport He was primarily first a basketball player since elementary school and Gant said quote “That’s when it all clicked for him Jaden is a true basketball player He had been playing since he was in third grade and was known as a natural shooter who elevated over defenders around the rim and saw a future for himself in the sport He was a classic late bloomer who had to switch sports and he had been coached and trained since he was 11 years old but it would take time before the world would really find out about him At first he decided to play both football and basketball at Miami’s Goliver Prep which was a which was a big-time program But then after going to the drawing board he decided to transfer to Miami’s Westminster Christian for his junior year and he had no clue if he’d played football or not in 2019 He figured he would give it a try though and he was good enough as a receiver to get a handful of FCS scholarships He was an unranked recruit and he ended up having 920 receiving yards in his first two seasons But he also kind of got screwed over due to everything going on in the world in 2020 only appearing in five games during that difficult time period It wasn’t for a lack of effort as his former trainer played both with the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and lobbyed Higgins to plenty of Florida schools They tried to get the Miami Hurricanes on board with Jaden but it wouldn’t happen No major college football program would offer him a scholarship As I said he was at Westminster Christian School and as a senior had 23 catches for 430 yards and five touchdowns in only five games He was an allcount player his junior year having 27 catches for 490 yards and four touchdowns but was unranked Still though he was going to get an opportunity to go to Eastern Kentucky where Gant said quote you can see the growth from when he was small and it shows where he comes from his journey and the grind he puts into it Jaden put in so much and I tried to tell Miami that there’s a great kid in your backyard and you need to see him and you don’t just find a 6’4 kid who can move this way but the Florida schools would overlook him and put a spark into him He was ranked as the 459th wide receiver in the country And being an underrated afterthought having to go play for EKU was fuel for him He said quote “For me at the end of the day it’s always been a look at yourself in the mirror type thing I’m just trying to be the best version of myself and I’m going to pick certain people’s brains and see what they do well and try to take it I’m going to be the best version of myself and show it when I’m on the field.” He would travel from South Florida all the way to Eastern Kentucky and he’d end up doing really well there Higgins would catch 58 passes for 757 yards and 10 touchdowns And in two years at the Colonels he had a grand total of 1,200 yards 87 catches and also 13 touchdowns 10 of those came in his final season at EKU and he knew it was time to try to get back to the power four His trainer said quote “I have the utmost respect for Eastern Kentucky because they gave him a shot when no one else was making a commitment to him When he jumped into the portal there was no bad blood as they were happy for him to move up They knew this kid was supposed to be somewhere bigger and they knew he was one of the top receivers in college football and they were lucky to have him Well where would he go in today’s transfer portal era it is important not to burn a bridge with a recruit or a player coming out of high school cuz you never know when they’re going to go back in the portal and maybe you could get them on a second try Iowa State did not have a relationship with Jaden Higgins before he entered the portal But they had a fighting chance Schools like Mississippi State Virginia Northwestern and Minnesota also decided to offer Jaden but he’d end up at Iowa State in the end Matt Campbell said quote “The recruiting process with Jaden was more of who he was than what he did on the football field He certainly had a really successful career at Eastern Kentucky but the other things that we were looking for were character leadership and someone that could bring a sense of maturity and work ethic.” What’s interesting is character was just super important to them as offensive coordinator Nathan Shield House wanted a Higgins because of his parents Obviously he was a dang good football player too And when he was recruited to Iowa State it was expected the 6’4 receiver would be able to play immediately And Matt Campbell said quote “He’s been nothing short of exceptional since day one.” His transition to Iowa State was smooth and he credits his teammates for making the process easy In his first year with the Cyclones back in 2023 he’d end up catching his first career touchdown in week two against Iowa having eight catches for 95 yards in that one He also caught a touchdown in their weird loss on the road to Ohio And Iowa State was not off to a great start After a loss to Oklahoma things were not looking good but then they rallied off three straight wins against TCU Cincinnati and Baylor And in those three games Higgins really blew up especially against Cincinnati as in that matchup he had six catches for 172 yards and then would have a touchdown against Baylor They unfortunately lost to both Kansas and Texas at the end of the year but he went for over 100 yards against the Longhorns and also had a touchdown in their win against a top 20 Kansas State team Higgins had a really good regular season but would save his best for last In the Liberty Bowl against Memphis Higgins would end up catching nine passes which was a season high and then he also had 214 yards and a touchdown He blew all his records out of the water and in total finished with 53 catches for 983 yards and six touchdowns It’s also worth noting he was blowing up alongside teammate Jaylen Nowell And Iowa State looked dangerous for 2024 With Roco Beck back at quarterback Higgins picked up where he left off He had a touchdown in their first five games and Iowa State was also 5-0 He helped them beat number 21 Iowa in the Sihawk game Had over 100 yards in that win against Baylor and then we continue to feast He had over 100 yards against West Virginia Had a touchdown against UCF and all of a sudden Iowa State was 7-0 They were really running towards the college football playoff but then they blew it Despite a career-high 10 catches against Texas Tech they’d lose that game by one point and then they would blow it again to Kansas Iowa State was pretty much out of the playoff picture but they would rally off three straight wins to finish the season They beat Cincinnati He had nine catches against Utah and then a touchdown as they once again beat a ranked Kansas State team Higgins would play in one more game for Iowa State in the Big 12 championship And if they could pull that off they would make the playoff It unfortunately didn’t work out as he ended up getting destroyed by ASU But Higgins had seven catches for 115 yards In total he finished with 87 receptions for 1 183 yards and nine total touchdowns Higgins became one of the best wide receivers in Iowa State football history Oddly enough Iowa State has been able to have a lot of good receivers over the last couple of years as guys like Alan Lazard Hakee Butler and Xavier Hutchinson all went off to the NFL but some believe that Higgins could be the best of them all He’s part of the Mount Rushmore of Iowa State receivers now and he finished 10th all time in receptions with 140 seventh in receiving yards with 2,166 and sixth in touchdowns with 15 This also only came in two years In total in four years of college Higgins had 227 catches for 3,317 yards and 28 touchdowns He would now go off to the NFL alongside his teammate and was seen as a day two pick Matt Campbell said he had great size a great catch radius and was a really good route runner but his character is what made him even better Eventually he was taken in the second round as he went with pick number 34 to the Houston Texans Higgins said quote “I just feel blessed I got that call and my family me organization.” Higgins was 6’6 and was clocked running a 4.47 40ard dash time He’s also super productive obviously had the hype and everyone raved about this guy’s character He said quote “I’m just a player that’s going to come in and make plays no matter where I’m at on the field I’m someone who’s going to be reliable and explosive and at the end of the day I just want to make the team better.” But what’s also awesome is he got another pleasant surprise As while he continued to watch the rest of the 2025 NFL draft he wondered if the Texans would also go after Jaylen his teammate As he predicted they’d end up deciding to take him He was taken with the 79th overall selection Minutes later the two ended up catching up over the phone and he said it was surreal They had been playing over the last 2 years and apparently also had a popular Tik Tok page where they went fishing and played basketball The two guys were super super close and it’ll help make the transition to the NFL even easier The two of them combined for 2400 yards and 19 touchdowns last year and they’ll now join a Texas offense led by quarterback CJ Strad running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Nico Collins With Stefon Diggs going to New England and Tank Dell’s status for the season being in question there’s going to be plenty of opportunities for the two rookies But right now everybody’s talking about Higgins He’s already drawn comparisons to Nico Collins And Higgins apparently smiled when he was asked about their similarities I guess the Texans were so high on him that they actually gave him the first fully guaranteed contract in NFL history for a second round pick His contract was four years and worth a total of 11.7 million And he also received a $5.1 million signing bonus Again this doesn’t happen but to be fair he was one of the earliest picks in the second round Higgins made NFL history with that deal and they’re going to expect him to be really solid from the get-go Honestly I believe he’ll probably be the second best wide receiver on the team this year behind Collins But if Tank Dell can get back on the field it’ll also make things interesting I think Jaylen Null is also a fun player to watch but for now the spotlight is on Higgins For a guy who had no FBS offers was not in the 24/7 sports database and had to go to Eastern Kentucky He’s done pretty well for himself He’s already made NFL history and he made Iowa State history So I can’t wait to see what he does next But what do you guys think if you’re an Iowa State or a Texans fan what do you think of Jaden Higgins and who’s another player I should cover in my next video i love doing these rookie spotlights so be sure to drop a future suggestion down below Leave a like if you didn’t support today’s video Subscribe if you’re new and check out some of the videos on the end screen including my video about Tory Horton I hope to see you guys again soon but until next time peace

Jayden Higgins went from a zero star recruit with no FBS offers to a superstar at Iowa State and the future of the Houston Texans. But how did this happen? Today, I want to take a look at the impossible rise of Jayden Higgins, how he made history and his epic Iowa State career, enjoy!