NAPA, Calif. (AP) -The fumbled punts, short returns and missed opportunities weighed on Johnnie Lee Higgins during his rookie year with the Oakland Raiders.
A third-round pick out of UTEP a year ago who was expected to transform Oakland’s return game, Higgins instead ended up losing his job midway through the season because he couldn’t hold onto the ball or break off long returns.
The demotion took its toll on Higgins’ confidence and made it even harder for him to perform on the field. He mood remained down when he returned home to Texas, and attempts by friends and family members to cheer him up by telling him he was just a rookie did not help.
“That really doesn’t mean anything,” Higgins said. “Look at Adrian Peterson. He was a rookie last year and he was explosive.”
Higgins came back this year and immediately began working harder in the weight room and tried to regain the confidence that helped him average 23.4 yards per punt return as a senior at UTEP in 2006.
“When I came back people up here told me, ‘You need the UTEP swagger back and you need to walk around with your head up high and look at someone and say I know you can’t tackle me.”’ Higgins said. “When I’m out there now, I feel like I have my swagger back and I’m very confident in everything I do.”
That showed in Higgins’ performance in the exhibition opener, when he had a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown against San Francisco and also had a 38-yard return called back because of a penalty on Justin Griffith.
That’s a big difference from a year ago, when Higgins was averaging only 2.8 yards per punt return before breaking off a 54-yarder in the season finale against San Diego that helped raise his average to 5.2 yards for the season.
Higgins also fumbled a return in that game, one of four he had in just 20 returns. He spent much of the offseason lifting weights and working on reading punts so he does a better job holding onto the ball.
“He’s a more confident guy,” coach Lane Kiffin said. “Everything is not new to him. You could tell this offseason. We started talking about it right at the beginning of our OTA days that he looked different. He just looks confident and he is stronger and bigger, so that helps him, as well.”
The Raiders are counting heavily on Higgins this year, especially after letting Chris Carr leave for Tennessee as a restricted free agent in the offseason.
Carr had handled the bulk of the returns for Oakland the past three seasons, becoming the Raiders’ all-time leader with 4,841 yards in kickoff returns. He also handled 77 punts for 454 yards.
Carr handled 82 percent of the returns during his tenure in Oakland, leaving a big hole to fill. Higgins, who came into camp as the favorite on punts, now will get a chance to see how he can do on kicks with rookie Tyvon Branch limited by a broken thumb.
“He looked great on the two punt returns last week, and hopefully he can do it on kickoff returns as well,” Kiffin said.
The Raiders haven’t had a punt return for a score in five years, since Phillip Buchanon brought back two in the 2003 season. That was also the last year Oakland had a kick return for a score with Doug Gabriel doing it.
Higgins punctuated his touchdown return last week with a backflip in the end zone, a celebration his college coach, Mike Price, wouldn’t allow.
He wants to do something even more special when he scores his first regular season touchdown.
“If I keep taking them back, the more I take back, the more I’m going to keep adding on and adding on,” Higgins said. “If I make a touchdown receiving-wise, it will be a little different.”
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