FORT COLLINS — Colorado State wide receiver Rashard Higgins’ pace through his first six games of the season in general is slightly down from a year ago, when he earned consensus All-America honors as a sophomore.
What stands out, though, is that he isn’t making — or at least isn’t a part of — as many big plays.
Through six games in 2014, Higgins had 44 receptions for 776 yards, averaging 17.6 yards per catch, and 10 touchdowns. Higgins eventually sat out the Nov. 8 Hawaii game, so he played in 12 of the Rams’ 13 games and finished with 95 receptions for 1,750 yards and 17 TDs. All that led to him being one of the three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award won by Alabama’s Amari Cooper.
This season, after sitting out the Minnesota game with a foot injury, and through his first six games, Higgins has 41 receptions for 543 yards and four TDs. That’s 13.2 yards per catch, down significantly, and his TDs are way down as well. That’s not shocking, considering record-breaking quarterback Garrett Grayson now is with the New Orleans Saints and Higgins still is developing a rapport with redshirt sophomore Nick Stevens. Some of the big strikes between Grayson and Higgins last season were quick bubble screens, on which Higgins broke for big gains after the catches.
Higgins participated in Tuesday’s individual-drills part of practice open to the media, albeit wearing a red no-contact jersey, but he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media on the only day of the week CSU players can speak to reporters.
The Rams, 3-4 after a Saturday win over Air Force, have a bye before facing San Diego State at home on Halloween afternoon. One of the goals will be for the Rams to heal up, and that includes Higgins.
“Down the stretch, my goal is to have him practice, first of all,” said CSU coach Mike Bobo, who didn’t seem thrilled with Higgins. “He didn’t practice today. It’s hard to get a guy a lot of balls when he doesn’t practice. … The truth of the matter is that it’s hard to have any chemistry when somebody doesn’t practice.
“He’s in a red jersey today because of an upper extremity— I think I said that right — injury. … I think he’ll be fine for the game. But he’s got to get healthy. He’s got to get practice where he can get in game shape. He’s not in game shape yet because he can’t stay on the field a lot.”
Higgins had a 33-yard catch that got the Rams to the Air Force 8 on Saturday, and seven receptions for 74 yards for the game.
“But he still is very productive,” Bobo said. “When we do throw him the ball, he catches the ball. When we threw him a deep ball, he did a great job of holding his line and catching it over his outside shoulder. A lot of other attempts at deep balls, we have not connected.”
Bobo added: “A lot of people want to blame that on the quarterback, but it has a lot to do us holding our line as a receiver. He did a nice job of that. He’s the one guy that has made plays down the field, one at Colorado, one the other day on the third down. So, yes, I want to get him out there. Yes, I want to get him the ball, because he’s an explosive player. But I want him to practice, too.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei
