Miami Hurricanes Player Profile: WR Brian Hightower

When looking at the Miami Hurricanes roster and the depth at multiple positions, it’s easy to look at the wide receiver room and stare in awe. It’s wide receiver depth chart is deep and filled with top talent. Looking away from the obvious starters of Ahmmon Richards, Jeff Thomas and likely Lawrence Cager, the room has a solid veteran in Darrell Langham (RS Senior) and plenty of highly touted underclassmen, including Mike Harley (Sophomore) and true freshmen Mark Pope, Dee Wiggins and Marquez Ezzard.

Apart of the latter is also true freshmen Brian Hightower, a 4 star commit who hails from California via IMG Academy. During the recruitment season, Hightower was ranked 154th of all recruits and had received offers from USC, Clemson, Florida, Florida State and of course, Miami.

When looking at his talent, it’s no surprise that Hightower was a 4 star commit. Hightower does an excellent job of using his 6’3” frame to his advantage. Considered on the taller said of wide receivers, Hightower does a terrific job making tough catches and over-the-shoulder catches. After the catch, he has impressive talent to break tackles. While Hightower could use some work, he’s an impressive player who is a “jack of all trades” but a “master of none”.

When he arrived at Miami in the Spring, Hightower was highly effective and drew high praise from everyone, especially after a Spring game performance that saw Hightower lead all wide receivers with 100 yards and 2 touchdowns on 4 receptions. Of the two touchdown grabs, the best use of his ability was the first one, which put the first points on the board for either team.

On a nice throw from quarterback N’Kosi Perry, Hightower uses his frame and long arms to create separation from the smaller Gilbert Frierson. After tracking down the ball, Hightower then shields himself from Frierson by turning his back on the freshman defensive back. Overall, the play shows what Hightower can be, a deep threat that can create separation using his build.

When it comes to future production past this season, Brian Hightower will get plenty of looks. With Ahmmon Richards likely going to the NFL after his Junior season and both Lawrence Cager and Darrell Langham Jr graduating in the coming seasons, a spot on the outside opens up for Hightower.

With the strong Spring that Hightower had, where he gained the attention of many Hurricanes’ coaches including head coach Mark Richt, it’s not impossible to think that Hightower has proven enough to earn significant playing time, even with one of the deepest wide receiver cores in the country.