Though the COVID-19 pandemic is going to change the way the NFL Draft will be held this year, it has not changed the way Tee Higgins is preparing for it and his future in the NFL.

The former Clemson wide receiver told ESPN’s Maria Taylor on College GameDay’s Instagram Live Thursday he is back home in Oak Ridge, Tenn., with his family during the quarantine. He said he is enjoying being back with his family and he is getting his workouts in, so when football practices do return, he is ready to practice for whatever team picks him next Thursday.

“I have been working out in my friend’s garage,” Higgins said. “He has like a little weight room set and he is kind of like a trainer. So, he puts me through a real tough workout.”

Higgins also indicated he goes to Knoxville’s Catholic High School and works out with his good friend, and former Clemson teammate, Amari Rodgers.

“It has been good. We have been learning things from each other,” Higgins said. “There are a few things he has taught me that he picked up from Coach [Tyler] Grisham at Clemson. It has been good. Just working out together.

“We are not going to have that many opportunities to work out together, again. He is at Clemson and I am taking the next step into the NFL. It has been really good.”

Higgins is considered by most to be a first-round pick in next week’s draft, which is scheduled to begin next Thursday. He finished his Clemson career with 135 receptions for 2,448 and 27 touchdowns. His 27 touchdowns tied Deandre Hopkins’ Clemson record, which he also shares with former Tiger receiver Sammy Watkins.

This past season, Higgins earned All-ACC First-Team honors after he led the Tigers with 1,167 yards and 13 touchdowns on 59 catches. The 6-foot-4 receiver averaged 19.8 yards per catch. He was voted as the ACC Championship Game’s MVP after he tallied an ACC Championship record 182 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The three touchdowns also tied a Clemson record for touchdown receptions in a game.

Higgins, who would have been a true senior this coming year, said leaving Clemson to enter his name into the 2020 NFL Draft was a tough one.

“I just felt like I was ready. It was a hard decision because I promised my mom that I was going to graduate college and get my degree, but it was really tough,” he said. “I talked to her and she felt like I was ready, and I also felt like I was ready. So, we made a decision, and here we are.”

However, do not think Higgins is not going to finish school. His mother is going to make sure he does.

“I don’t have a choice. I have to go back,” he said. “Coach Swinney is going to make me come back, too.”

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