OAK RIDGE — Tee Higgins never played football for Tennessee, although he certainly could have.
Higgins, a wide receiver from Clemson, was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals to open the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
He was the 33rd overall pick and joins his adversary, LSU quarterback, Joe Burrow, with the Bengals. Burrow was the No. 1 overall pick Thursday night.
Higgins was a football and basketball star at Oak Ridge High School and committed to Tennessee along with Knoxville Catholic High School standout Amari Rodgers.
Former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones aggressively recruited Higgins and Rodgers, the son of UT national championship quarterback and current assistant coach Tee Martin, but both flipped their commitment and joined Clemson late in their respective recruiting processes.
Rodgers is slated to be a redshirt senior in 2020 after sustaining a knee injury in his college career.
Higgins played his high school football for the Wildcats under legendary coach Joe Gaddis. He also played high school basketball for VFL Aaron Green.
Rodgers played at Knoxville Catholic under former Vols and Tennessee Oilers quarterback Steve Matthews.
Matthews, who also played for Kansas City and Jacksonville, transferred to the University Memphis after departing UT for Harford Community College in Maryland.
During his time with the Chiefs, Matthews’ quarterback coach was Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy.