Colorado State wide receiver Rashard Higgins will forego his senior season to pursue a career in professional football, he announced via Twitter on Wednesday night.
In an open letter to Rams fans, Higgins thanks his coaches, specifically wide receivers coach Alvin Whitted, his teammates and family, and Jesus Christ. He also thanked “#RamNation” for “making my time at CSU unforgettable.”
Higgins will leave CSU as the school’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. He was a 2014 consensus All-American and one of just three players nationally to be named to the 2015 preseason watch list for all three of the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award and Biletnikoff Award. Higgins was twice a first-team All-Mountain West wide receiver.
In his junior year, under coach Jim McElwain and along with quarterback Garrett Grayson, Higgins led all of NCAA football at any level with 1,750 receiving yards. That mark was good for 15th of all time at the NCAA Division I level.
Higgins saw a drop off in production from his All-American levels with new head coach Mike Bobo and quarterbacks Nick Stevens and Coleman Key, not to mention a target on his back from all Mountain West opponents. Still, Higgins logged the second consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season of his college career on 74 receptions.
He will leave Fort Collins with 238 catches, 3,648 receiving yards and 31 touchdowns.
Higgins is the No. 12 wide receiver for the 2016 NFL Draft, according to Walter Football as of Jan. 9. Based on last year’s draft, that would place him somewhere in the late third round, early fourth.
Higgins’ full statement, as it first appeared on Twitter, is below…
