Sad Details About Tee Higgins' Childhood

Warning: This article mentions drug abuse and violent recollections.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, attending and playing football at Oak Ridge High School. According to the Bengals website, he won Tennessee's Mr. Football award for the AAAAA level twice. He also played basketball in grade school. He went on to play football at Clemson University in South Carolina for three years before he was drafted by the Bengals in 2020.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spoke to The Clemson Insider about Higgins and his predictions for his professional career. "I can just tell you Tee Higgins is going to be an impactful guy the first day he can get on that practice field," he said. "He's an awesome young man, but truly as complete a player as we've had come out of here at his position." The coach also added that he was surprised the receiver wasn't a first-round draft pick.

Even Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said Swinney had only positive things to say about Higgins. "He just raved about him, the energy he's going to bring to the receiver room, he's just the same guy every day," he told The Cincinnati Enquirer after the 2020 draft. Taylor also said that Higgins would be a great addition to the "arsenal" of powerful players already on the team. And it seems that his past, specifically his childhood, has shaped who the receiver is as a person.

In an emotional article Tee Higgins wrote in The Players' Tribune, the receiver revealed that his mother was shot by her drug dealer. He was only 6 years old. He also recalled how he would sometimes be unable to find his mom and wake up to see a "friend" of his mother's in the house. "When I'd wake up in the night there'd be one of her friends there, just sitting on the couch," he wrote. "I'd burst out crying immediately. Then I'd take off running for Grandma's."

Higgins' mother recalled the moment when she sobered up for her children's sake. "I went to jail and made up my mind that day," she said on Bengals.com. "I was done. My kids deserved so much more. They didn't ask to be brought into the world of what I was doing." She also mentioned how grateful she was that her children never left her side.

Today, Higgins' mom has been sober for more than a decade. She was able to witness her son play in the Super Bowl with the Bengals in 2022. "I'm so excited to go see him play," she told the New York Post. "I've always watched it growing up, wishing that I could go to one of those games, and to know that my son is playing in a game like this? It's surreal."

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

During the 2020 draft, a small graphic of Tee Higgins' life history popped up on the screen, and it included his mother's past. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, ESPN issued an apology for publicly bringing up the drug addiction. However, Higgins didn't see anything wrong with it. "I'm proud of my mom for turning her life around for me and my sister!" he tweeted. "I have no problem with them showing the world that my mom is a true fighter."

And it seems that the receiver's mother doesn't shy away from speaking about her past problems either. "One thing about my mom, she never tries to hide from her past or pretend it didn't happen," Higgins wrote in The Players' Tribune. "She's honest about it." He added that she often uses her past to focus on the positive events that have happened.

And it seems that Higgins takes that positivity to heart, as he credits his mom when it comes to overcoming obstacles in his own life. When Higgins was facing criticism from NFL fans, he took the opportunity to praise Damar Hamlin's family. "Whatever issue I'm having, it'll never compare to what my mom went through," he told And Scape. "If I ever have a problem, I just look at how she's overcome and I keep it moving."