If you’re looking for the next Amari Cooper in this year’s college football landscape, then you need to travel to Colorado State to find Rashard Higgins play.
Cooper’s numbers and grade last year were fantastic, en route to his being drafted with the No. 4 overall pick by the Oakland Raiders. The only player to out-grade him over the season was Higgins.
Cooper ended the season with 1,727 yards and 16 touchdown catches. Higgins edged past him in both categories, with 1,749 yards and 17 scores despite being targeted 45 fewer times.
While Cooper was the most heavily targeted receiver in the nation, 18 receivers saw the ball come their way more often than Higgins did, yet the 6-foot-2 Higgins notched a better catch rate than Cooper, snagging 74.4 percent of the passes thrown his way — 3.1 percent better than Cooper.
Like Cooper, Higgins isn’t just dangerous in his routes, but he is a major threat for yards after the catch with the ball in his hand. Only three receivers made defenders miss tackles more than the 23 times Higgins did last year: Cooper (26), Vince Mayle (26) and Kevin White (24). All three of those receivers saw at least 30 additional targets compared to Higgins, and so they actually forced misses at a lower rate.
Perhaps the most interesting number for Higgins is that of former CSU QB Garrett Grayson's seven interceptions last year, just one of them was while targeting Higgins, who stood out as one of the safest targets in the nation. If you’re looking for the best receiver prospect in the country, look no further.
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