By Hale McGranahan.
If there was any doubt who the best player in the state of South Carolina was for the 2015 class, Albert Huggins put the conversation to bed during Shrine Bowl week.
The four-star defensive lineman capped an outstanding run of practices with strong performance during the game, recording three tackles and a tackle for loss.
Huggins also picked up the Spark Plug Award for team spirit, probably because he was the most vocal among all the players on the practice fields at Spartanburg High School.
“That was one thing I did at O-W that I’m trying to transfer over now,” Huggins told TheClemsonInsider, after the second day of practice. “If you allow them to be quiet, they will be quiet. I don’t want them to be quiet. I want them to be active. I want them to have fun, so might as well be loud.”
Before Huggins could finish the last sentence, South Carolina commitment Zack Bailey shouted from several feet away.
“Let’s go, big Albert.”
Huggins said, matter-of-factly: “He wasn’t doing that the first day.”
Before his senior season at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, Huggins decided he needed to carry himself that way on the field and in the locker room.
“I stepped up this year and tried to be a leader,” he said. “It’s just transferring over.”
When Huggins arrives to Clemson in the first week of January, he’ll bring that mentality into the defensive end meeting room, which will be without Vic Beasley, Corey Crawford and Tavaris Barnes.
A four-star defensive tackle, there are plenty of folks who think Huggins will be best suited along the interior at tackle.
“I’m good at either (end or tackle), but it’s hard in the trenches now,” Huggins said. “I’m not scared of being in the trenches, but I’m more of a speed guy. But, wherever I work, I’m good with it.”
Wherever he ends up once spring ball opens, Huggins plans to already be off to a good start in the classroom and the weight room. The last time Huggins maxed out on bench press he threw 420 pounds into the air. His last max-out at the squat was 540.