[2025 Draft/2-34] Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State

BACKGROUND: Jayden Higgins, who has two sisters (Jade and Angelina), was born in Cobb County, Ga., with his parents (Moses and Holly Poole) before the family relocated to South Miami (and moved into his father's childhood home) when Jayden was 3 years old. Higgins started playing football when he was "little, little" for the South Miami Grey Ghosts and originally was an offensive lineman and defensive lineman before moving to wide receiver and defensive back. Higgins started playing travel basketball on a national level in third grade and led his team at Gulliver Middle School to a South Florida championship, averaging 15.0 points per game. As a seventh-grader, he was the starting point guard on the high school JV basketball team at SLAM Academy, and by eighth grade was considered one of the top young point guards in South Florida (he was honored on the court at a Miami Heat game in 2017).

Higgins originally attended Gulliver Prep's Upper School, a private high school in Pinecrest, Fla., for two years. He played on the JV team as a freshman but didn't play as a sophomore to focus on basketball (and because he "didn't have a great experience" playing football at Gulliver Prep). Before his junior year, Higgins transferred to Westminster Christian School, a private prep school in Palmetto Bay for his final two years of high school. While still focused on basketball, he decided the fresh start would be a good opportunity to play football again. Higgins earned all-county honors as a junior with 27 catches for 490 yards and four touchdowns, helping the team to six wins and a 2019 playoff spot. His senior season was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Higgins finished with 23 catches for 430 yards and five touchdowns in five games. He averaged 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds for the basketball team in 2019-20. Higgins also joined the track team as a senior and qualified for states in the high jump, with a personal best of 6 feet, 5 inches. His personal best in the long jump was 22 feet, and he was also part of the relay team that broke the school's 4x100 record.

A two-star recruit, Higgins was the 459th-ranked wide receiver in the 2021 recruiting class and the No. 376 recruit in Florida. After focusing primarily on basketball early in high school, he was late to the football recruiting scene. The pandemic and the fact that Higgins played at a small school also were factors in his underrecruitment. Higgins was hoping to play basketball at the college level until he received his first football scholarship offer in May 2020 (FCS Long Island). Between the end of his senior season and signing day, he added offers from Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, Houston Baptist and Stetson (all in Dec. 2020). He officially committed to Eastern Kentucky, because it was the "best fit" (only received FCS offers and never heard from any FBS programs).

After his breakout sophomore season at Eastern Kentucky, Higgins entered the transfer portal in December 2022, with his eye on jumping to the FBS. He received offers from Minnesota, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, Troy, Tulane and Virginia, but he felt his best opportunity was at Iowa State, because of the "family atmosphere." Higgins earned Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll honors. He opted out of Iowa State's 2024 bowl game and accepted his invitation to the Senior Bowl.

STRENGTHS:
● Height, length and speed combination that NFL teams covet on the outside
● Urgent in the drive phase and uses long strides to eat up cushion quickly
● Has short-area footwork for a variety of releases and stemwork
● Snatches with natural hands and quickly puts the ball away to avoid raking defenders
● Comfortable catching all types of passes — turns contested targets into more than 50-50 shots
● Awesome ball-tracking skills (zero drops on 117 targets of 10 yards or more at Iowa State)
● Quick to find the ball and adjust his path or cut off defenders with hips/shoulders
● Sits down in zones to give quarterback a target
● Competitive after the catch and uses loose movements to make the first man miss
● Prides himself on being able to line up at any receiver position
● Played in 26 straight games at Iowa State; didn't miss a game because of injury
● No. 3 all-time in Iowa State history with eight 100-yard receiving games
● Set Iowa State school record with a touchdown catch in seven straight games

WEAKNESSES:
● Improved route construction and setup, but he's not all the way there yet
● Quick escapes from physical press man will be a challenge — he'll have a shadow on most intermediate routes
● Doesn't have high-end speed to pull away vertically from NFL corners
● Not dynamic after the catch (3.9 YAC per reception in 2024)
● Didn't play on special teams in college

SUMMARY: A two-year starter at Iowa State, Higgins was the X receiver (aligned wide on 72.4 percent of snaps in 2024) in first-year offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser's scheme. A basketball-focused athlete much of his life, Higgins' receiving production increased each of his four seasons in college — two in the FCS and the past two with the Cyclones (finished No. 7 on Iowa State's all-time receiving list, despite his limited time in the program).

With the body control and grace of a former point guard, Higgins has the smooth athleticism that translates to his route running, and he is more than just a possession target — even if his tape doesn't show a dangerous playmaker after the catch. He is a big, strong target who is natural at tracking and adjusting to the football, regardless of the placement or coverage (just three drops on 210 targets at Iowa State). Overall, Higgins is an ascending height-weight-speed athlete with the physicality and catch radius to be a productive NFL starter as he continues developing his route/release precision. His game is similar to what Nico Collins put on tape at Michigan.