Opportunity for Auburn, Ole Miss and Rivals250 WR Elijah Higgins

ROUND ROCK, Tex. -- Rivals250 wide receiver Elijah Higgins’ eyes drifted aside when fielding questions about his recruitment following an afternoon workout on Wednesday.

In between gathering his things and heading out, Rivals100 wide receiver Garrett Wilson was forming the O in the Buckeyes’ iconic O-H-I-O arm movements. The two had just wrapped up speed and footwork training together, but plenty of Ohio State fans are hoping the Austin-based duo reconnect in Columbus next fall.

“We talk about it a lot; all the time we’re together,” Higgins said of Wilson’s recruitment of him. “Whenever we talk, he brings it up in some way or another. He’s subtle about it, he knows what he’s doing.”

Ohio State is the only official visit that Higgins has taken to this point, and Buckeyes are widely considered to be one of the teams at the top of his list following his Top 7 release recently. Florida and Stanford also appear to have a pretty strong foothold so far with him as well, but then outside of hometown Texas, how does the rest of the list shake out?

“This is where it gets mixed up for y'all,” he said of recruiting media. “You all know the beginning, for sure.”

The two teams that will be the most interesting to watch have become Auburn and Ole Miss. Higgins visited both a few weeks ago and said that each - along with Stanford - would be where he’s thinking would be best to take his next visit, so long as his mother could join him. With a big recruiting weekend on the horizon at the end of this month, both SEC programs are hosting prospects for cookout-type of events. The Longhorns are set to hold one of their own as well, and after making a number of single-day stops at contending programs last month, Higgins said Texas has been on-point in hosting him during quick visits.

“I would say Texas does the best in getting things set for a one-day visit,” he said. “They prepare easier, they know when I’m coming and do a good job getting things ready.”

On Auburn’s and Ole Miss’ approach to recruiting him

“I’m really just feeling it out for myself,” he said. “The schools like that aren’t always pushy about it because they know that it’s hard to recruit kids out of Texas. They know that people are always in my ear, so it’s really about having a genuine relationship with them, hitting them up when you’re interested.”

On Auburn

“Just the whole mentality that they have there is good,” he said. “Coach (Kodi) Burns, the receivers coach, is a cool dude so I really enjoy myself out there.”

On a possible Auburn connection with Jalen Curry similar to that of his to Wilson and Ohio State

“We’re not really close like that,” he said. “We’re cool and we’re friends but we don’t really talk about that. I know that he’s got interest there and I’ve talked with [Burns] a little bit about that.”

On Ole Miss

“I’ve been to a lot of schools for visits,” he said. “When I got to Ole Miss - I’m a big receiver, so that’s what I’m looking for - and they have AJ Brown, so I talked to him about stuff like that. He’s a way bigger dude and the way that they use dudes like that, the offense they run, that’s really intriguing to me.”