OAKLAND – Johnnie Lee Higgins loved him some wings as a rookie.
It wasn't uncommon on Mondays to see Higgins sitting at his locker with an order of wings from nearby Wing Stop.
But with new strength and conditioning coach Brad Roll in his ear, some things have changed.
"Nah, no more Wing Stop," Higgins said. That's not all that changed.
The second-year wide receiver is walking around with a smile and feeling good. A new sense of confidence combined with a newfound strength has Higgins putting a difficult rookie season behind him and looking for a bigger role.
He caught only six passes in 16 games for 47 yards. The one area he was supposed to contribute the most – punt returns – proved to be a nightmarish experience at times.
He fumbled four punts as a rookie and lost the punt-return job for part of the year. He returned 20 punts for 103 yards.
"The muffed fumbles and stuff like that, it got me down," Higgins said. "But now I keep my head up high."
Higgins spent part of the offseason looking for what was missing from his game beyond holding on to the ball.
"I talked to a couple of people and they were like 'You just need to get that swagger back,'" Higgins said. "When you was at UTEP you looked at people like, 'I know you can't hold me, I know you can't mess with me.' So at times I really didn't have that, but now I'm getting it back."
His swagger was noticeable in the spring when he started catching more passes and standing out in practice. Higgins said his weight is up to about 185 pounds, out of the 170s as a rookie.
And he's the team's punt returner again. He had a 38-yard return in the Raiders' exhibition season opener taken away by a penalty but didn't sulk. Higgins responded with a 53-yard return for a touchdown.
"He's a more confident guy," said Raiders coach Lane Kiffin. "Everything's not new to him. You could tell this offseason. We started talking about it right at the beginning of our (organized team activity) days that he looked different. He just looks confident and he is stronger and bigger, so that helps him as well."
Higgins' role as a receiver figures to expand. The pass he caught for a first down Friday is just the start of bigger things, he hopes.
And with kick returner Tyvon Branch's injured thumb preventing him from returning kickoffs, Higgins is a top candidate to handle that job, too.
"I just put it all in one category," Higgins said. "There's basically one goal, get to the end zone, to take it to the house. I'm going to try to run my hamstring off to get the house."
Read Jason Jones' Raiders blog at www.sacbee.com/blogs.
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