When his offensive line mates think of senior Navy center Ford Higgins, they see a relentless, high-energy force with little time or inclination to flip an off switch.
Who is the loudest, most boisterous guy in the Navy locker room? It's Higgins, easily.
The most competitive dude on the squad? With all due respect to star senior quarterback Malcolm Perry, the extremely calm, tough, playmaking soul of the Midshipmen, Higgins stands out not just for his never-ending obsession with beating his opponent at the line of scrimmage every down. Higgins' latest need these days is to destroy all Navy contestants – in the popular (to some Mids) hand game of rock-paper-scissors.
"[Higgins] wants to beat anybody who will take him on, anyway he can. Right now, rock-paper-scissors is huge for him in the locker room," says senior guard David Forney. "He's always yelling at people to try to beat him. It's just another way that Ford brings it as a competitor every day.
"I think our offensive line has a real edge as a group. Ford brings that edge physically, and he is more vocal – a lot more vocal – than the rest of us," Forney adds. "But there's no question this team looks up to him."
"[Higgins] has this infectious kind of drive. There's stuff running through his veins that most everybody else doesn't have," says Ashley Ingram, who coaches the offensive line for the Mids. "It's not an act. It's real and authentic. It's just who he is. It's hard for everybody not to follow along. I think the team feeds off of it. I know the offense does. Ford gets everybody going, including myself."
When you watch the 4-1 Mids operate their high-scoring offense, led by Perry and the No. 1 rushing unit in the FBS, notice the undersized man in the middle of that formidable line.
Watch Higgins, at 6-feet-2 and 260 pounds, exploding out of his stance as he snaps the ball to Perry.
Notice how many one-on-one battles Higgins wins, either by turning and sealing – or simply burying – a nose tackle to get the spread option attack rolling, or by dashing into the second or third levels of the opposing defense to harass a linebacker or safety downfield to help a big play happen.
The non-stop energy supplied by Navy's co-captain – Higgins also was chosen to represent all varsity team captains as its Captain of Captains – is hard to miss.
Back on October 5, late in a thrilling, come-from-behind victory over rival Air Force, Higgins had enough fuel in the tank to take down his man lined up over the ball. That helped to spring Perry around the right side and into the end zone for the game-deciding touchdown in the closing seconds.
Immediately after Perry had scored, there was Higgins, bouncing up off the ground and dancing through the end zone, urging on the delirious crowd at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium.
"Our offense doesn't operate if we're not moving [defenders] off the line. This group of guys [up front] is unique and special to me," Higgins says. "We're not perfect by any means but we strive to be. We play selfless positions. We're tenacious guys who don't care about [personal] glory. We just want to get our guys in the end zone. We just want the W."
As a second-year starter at center and a former offensive tackle at Navy, Higgins has earned his leadership status with the Mids. He is quick to encourage teammates on the sideline or in the huddle. Even if he gets beat by an opposing defensive lineman, you'll rarely see any negative body language coming from Higgins.
It helps that Higgins is unusually athletic for a big guy. As a youngster, he was a solid performer in baseball, wrestling and roller hockey. His parents, Rick and Betsy, say Ford was a natural at tennis.
Within a few years of trying lacrosse for the first time in middle school, Higgins was starring at attack for Greater Atlanta Christian School, where Higgins, a lefty finisher, effective dodger and at times unorthodox shooter, eventually set school records for most goals and points scored in a season.
That athleticism helped Higgins survive and excel, as he has climbed the football ladder to the FBS level, where he typically has to confront linemen at least 40 pounds heavier.
"Ford has always been a talker out there. But he's always backed it up," says Navy senior right tackle Kendel Wright. "He's like an ankle biter who gets after you and stays after you and always comes back for more. It's pretty cool to watch him. If you line up across from him, he takes it personally."
Higgins uses his perceived lack of size to his advantage by combining good balance and footwork with natural leverage and quickness.
"I'll never allow myself to think of [his size] as an issue. I hear about it so much that I'm immune to it," Higgins says. "If you go into any type of situation or battle thinking you're at a disadvantage, you're already losing, you're already beat. In my head, I think I'm just as big as anyone else."
"Ford is definitely the emotional leader of our offense. He's fearless and tenacious. He plays with a total disregard for his body," says Ken Niumatalolo, Navy's 12th-year head coach, who made the decision after Higgins' sophomore season to move his young, talented tackle inside to take over at center.
"We've loved his athleticism since he came to our football camp [in the summer of 2015]," Niumatalolo adds. "Ford is a tough kid who plays hurt. He's not going to back down against these guys who weigh 315 or more. Sometimes, we have to slow him down."
Higgins' parents know well of what Niumatalolo speaks. Betsy Higgins recalls how Ford, the older of two sons (his brother Hudson, is a multi-sport junior at Greater Atlanta Christian), made his presence felt early and often growing up in Norcross, Ga.
"[Ford] came out [of the womb] loud, and he has stayed loud," Rick Higgins says with a chuckle.
Becky Higgins concurs. "Ford dominated the house with his big personality," she says. "He's always had a lot of confidence and made his presence known. He's also always been interested in people and having structure in his life. That's one way the academy was a perfect fit for him."
She recalls how, while still a preschooler, Ford would leaf through photo albums of his extended family, and repeatedly point at unknown relatives and ask for names and other information about them. It was typical for the Higgins boy to greet his parents in the morning with, "All right, what's the plan?"
"And if there wasn't a plan, Ford would want to make a plan," she recalls.
Higgins, who first played football in third grade, quickly took to the aggression that the sport welcomed. He remembers enjoying the contact that came with playing fullback and linebacker as a youngster, before his size and strength pushed him toward developing him into a formidable, two-way lineman.
As a high school senior, he was football team captain who was selected to the All-State team and was the Touchdown Club of Atlanta winner.
Higgins also captained the lacrosse team as a senior, and led Greater Atlanta Christian into the state playoffs for the first time that year. His high school coach, former Loyola University All-American and current Premier Lacrosse League star long stick defensive midfielder Scott Ratliff, holds Higgins in the highest esteem.
"Ford is, hands down, my favorite player I've ever coached. He was so good at lacrosse, and I've never had a player bring so much positive energy to practice every single day," says Ratliff, who likened Higgins' stick skills and scoring sense to a typical Canadian player.
"When I started coaching him, he already had the wrists and hands that showed he had a hockey background," Ratliff adds. "Once he learned how to use his body and back people down [around the goal], he really became a force.
"He's a freak athlete who catches everything and is creative around the goal. He can really run downhill and be a problem for a defender to stay in front of him. He's always happy to show up for work and never complains. I still haven't found another one like him."
Ratliff confirmed that Higgins is strongly considering walking on with the Navy lacrosse team, provided he is in good health after football season.
Football obviously won Higgins' heart years ago, and current teammate and linebacker Paul Carothers – a year older than Higgins and his former teammate at Greater Atlanta Christian – was a significant influence on Higgins.
Not long after visiting Navy's camp that summer in '15, while Carothers was headed to the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, R.I., Higgins committed to play for the Mids.
"I remember Coach Niumat telling me to think about it before I left to go back home that summer for my senior year in Atlanta," Higgins recalls.
"In my mind, I knew I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass. My heart was telling me to serve my country, and I loved the guys and this place when I visited," adds Higgins, who also was energized by Navy's passionate interest in him as a lineman. "For a while, I wasn't even sure I was going to play college football. I wasn't recruited that much early."
After reporting direct to Annapolis, Higgins spent his plebe year on the scout team, before breaking into the offensive tackle rotation as a sophomore in 2017. He appeared in 10 games and started one, but his season came to an abrupt end due to a broken ankle.
Higgins shifted to center the following spring, and came back strong as a junior to anchor the offensive line. He started every contest – all but one at center.
"I remember when I first watched [Higgins' high-school] film. It was obvious he was a really good player," Ingram recalls. "Then, when I actually met him for the first time, it took about two seconds for me to realize that hey, this kid has got a little spunk about him.
"Ford is such a good athlete that I really believe he could have been a great tackle for us, or even been really good at the raider position [on defense]," Ingram adds. "But Ken made a great decision to move him to center. He wanted Ford in more of a leadership position, where he was helping to run the team."
"I remember Ford and me going through all of the what-ifs years ago, when he and Coach Ingram – who also recruited me – were hitting it off," Carothers recalls. "Ford has always been a critical thinker who analyzes a lot. At one point when he was thinking about Navy, we thought, what if we both played there? I'm glad I asked Coach Ingram to look at Ford's film.
"Ford brings such a fun vibe and a great, competitive spirit to our team," Carothers adds. "I'm really proud of him and the way he's become the man and leader that he is."
