Cincinnati’s ‘Freak’ James Wiggins, a former South Dade star, heads to Cardinals in Draft
James Wiggins was dubbed “Freak” when he put together an All-American career for the Cincinnati Bearcats. He was an all-county performer in both football, and track and field, according to the Miami Herald, when he was at Homestead South Dade. He fought back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament to help Cincinnati become a national contender in 2020.
Now the once-overlooked safety headed to the NFL as the 16th pick in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Arizona Cardinals selected Wiggins with the No. 243 overall selection of the NFL Draft on Saturday, completing his journey from three-star recruit to the NFL after a spectacular career with the Bearcats.
Cincinnati, however, was once just a fallback plan for Wiggins. He spent nearly a year orally committed to the Miami Hurricanes before Miami fired former coach Al Golden and hired Mark Richt. The new coach didn’t make Wiggins a priority, Wiggins said at the time, so the defensive back decommitted and eventually landed in Ohio.
After a redshirt season and one year as a reserve, Wiggins became an anchor of the Bearcats’ defense in 2018. He made The Athletic’s annual preseason “Freaks List” ahead of his redshirt sophomore season because of his track-star speed and became a fixture on the lists for each of his final three seasons. He found a new nickname, which followed him throughout his career in Cincinnati and took on new meaning in 2019.
Just days before the 2019 college football season began, Wiggins tore the ACL in his left knee and missed the entire season. He did, however, plan on returning for the Bearcats’ bowl game if they made the 2019 Cotton Bowl Classic. When they didn’t, Wiggins regrouped and got ready for his redshirt senior year.
After earning all-American Athletic Conference honors as a redshirt sophomore, Wiggins finally had his true breakthrough in his final college season. The 6-foot, 205-pound safety logged 32 tackles and anchored Cincinnati’s defense as it reached a New Year’s Six bowl for the first time. He earned a first-team All-America nod from The Athletic, then headed to the NFL after completing an incredible comeback to finish an already-unlikely journey.
