Quency Wiggins came to Colorado a year ago with high hopes.
After all, he was a former four-star recruit who spent his first two seasons of college football with one of the best programs in the country, LSU.
The 2024 season didn’t pan out like he hoped, but Wiggins has come into this year a different man.
“I woke up the first day of camp, I walked in and I just completely felt like a different player,” the 6-foot-5, 255-pound junior defensive end said. “Energy, my attention to detail, just showing up every day, just ready to work. Just everything.”
CU head coach Deion Sanders has often talked about Wiggins’ potential, but hasn’t been shy in saying Wiggins has had work to do in order to get on the field.
“He knows he’s one of my favorites and he knows I stay on him because I love him that much,” Sanders said in the spring. “I stay on him about class. I stay on him about making sure he makes it into breakfast, making sure he’s on time everywhere, making sure he gives us maximum effort because I see so much in him.”
Wiggins was a four-star recruit coming out of Madison Prep (La.) High School in 2022 and he spent two seasons at LSU. With the Tigers, he played in nine games, but just 53 total snaps on defense.
Last year at CU, Wiggins played just 20 snaps on defense, recording one tackle.
“I feel like this is going to be his breakout season,” Sanders said. “It’s going to be his breakout summer. Quency has all the physical attributes. He’s just got to put it together and turn in solid performances of practice daily so it becomes a habit.
“But, man, shoot, he looks like Tarzan and we want him to play like Tarzan.”
Wiggins seems to finally be playing like Tarzan, not only lining up with the first-team defense at times in preseason camp, but playing with emotion.
“It feels really great. I feel really good,” he said. “I don’t want to let go of the feeling. I just want to keep on going and just see where this can take me.”
Wiggins admitted the 2024 season was frustrating, but he didn’t blame anyone else for his lack of playing time.
“It’s all on me,” he said. “I just take accountability and gathered myself and made a different approach this season to make sure that I’m on the field this year.”
He added that rather than focus on frustration, he chose to learn from last year.
“It taught me patience,” he said. “It taught me how to be a good teammate. It taught me a whole lot of things other than just worrying about being on the field. There’s a lot of lessons in the waiting game.”
This year, Wiggins said, he cut out distractions from his life, including video games, so he could lock in on football. It’s working so far as he appears to be one of the leading candidates for playing time at defensive end.
“It’s a feeling that I’ve never really touched (in college),” he said. “I could never really be as consistent as I am now. Now that I’m finally there and I can finally show people that I’m a baller, I want to keep on going, continue to grow and be better.”
Wiggins is in this spot, in part, because of the belief that Sanders has had in him from the start.
“It just shows he didn’t just toss me to the bank,” Wiggins said. “I was still a thought. He still supports me. He still wants me to thrive and just be the best version of myself and it just played into the offseason. Everything he said about me, I wanted to make it come to life.”