Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Fast Track To Rehab
HIGGINS PUSHES TO GET READY FOR FOOTBALL
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove junior quarterback/ cornerback/ kicker/punter Paytin Higgins (5-10, 145) put himself on an accelerated pace to return to football.
He figures prominently everywhere within the Tiger overall game plan on offense, defense and special teams.
Higgins was projected as starting quarterback to take over for the graduated Knox Laird prior to sustaining an injury during the spring soccer season then underwent offseason surgery. He was released in early August to return to action.
That set up classmate Camden Patterson (5-10, 145) in the starting role during spring football practice and 7-on-7 competitions over the summer.
“So Camden Patterson has taken over the realm and done a pretty good job at it,” said Prairie Grove head coach Danny Abshier. “I think he’s willing to do whatever we want him to do. He’ll take it. He’ll do the best job that he can.”
Patterson’s now slated as No. 1 quarterback. When Higgins gets back, Abshier figures he’s probably not going to be at absolutely full speed. When he is full speed, then he’ll start sharing time with an opportunity to battle for the starting job.
Hard working sophomore Luke Vance (5-9, 145) also displays leadership skills at quarterback.
This competition only serves to further motivate Higgins in his quest.
Some of the most experienced players on the Tiger defense return at cornerback if Higgins is healthy. Higgins played extensively in the secondary last year and ran a pick six back in the playoffs against Blytheville.
“He’s got another year under his belt, of course, he hadn’t got to do much his offseason, but he’s done everything he could. Constantly, we’ve had to pull him out of stuff,” said Prairie Grove Defensive Coordinator Craig Laird.
Prairie Grove coaches have had to ask Higgins to back off when catching him trying to engage in a drill or other activity prematurely.
Higgins would be trying to participate when coaches would ask, “Are you cleared to do that?”
He’d answer, “no,” and the coaches would instruct him, “Well, then don’t do it.”
“He wants to be out there and I love that about our defense,” Laird said. “He’s athletic, made some great plays on defense this last year in the playoffs. He had that great [interception] runback [for a touchdown] against Blytheville.”
Higgins injured leg was his plant leg, not his kicking leg so he’s been kicking a little bit, working to maintain his starting role for kickoffs and extrapoints as well as field goals.
Senior Dalton Frazier (5-10, 180) kicked some and athletic junior Ryder Orr (6-2, 260) has an ability to kick extrapoints, if needed.
Still, Higgins adds a dimension with a field goal kicker on the field and with distance he can achieve on kickoffs sending many into the end zone for no runback last year.
“Higgins would be the guy until we find someone else. We’re working on it,” Abshier said.
Higgins also aims to handle the punting chores, while Abshier points out that sophomore Joe Sims (6-1, 200) and Dalton Frazier both punt pretty good.
“Higgins punts well. Higgins probably will start and that’s nice — having a quarterback who punts,” Abshier said.
Laird tabs Higgins as an asset on special teams kickoff and punt coverage when there’s a returnable kick.
“He’d be a great tackler on kickoff teams except he’s our kicker, so he doesn’t get a lot of tackles on kickoffs or on punts because he was our punter, but he can run and tackle,” Laird said. “For his size, he’s really strong so looking forward to him [coming back].”
The Tigers open Sept. 3 at Farmington, which they will join in the 5A West a year from now, in the annual ‘Battle of 62’ rivalry contest.