FOXBORO — Patriots outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins has shared a workplace with Donta’ Hightower for all of just six months.
But that didn’t stop him from making a shocking guarantee about Hightower on Monday.
“This guy is going to be a head coach in the NFL. He’s so smart,” Wilkins of Hightower before the Patriots’ latest training camp practice. “So gifted as a communicator. … This is a superstar in the league that we’re all lucky to be around every day.”
Wilkins, 36, joined the Patriots staff after spending the past two seasons coaching outside linebackers for the Giants. Before that, he worked for the Ravens from 2010-2021 in various roles. During that time, Baltimore went head-to-head with the Patriots in several high-profile, high-stakes games, and Wilkins remembered Monday how the Ravens used to revere Hightower, a Patriots linebacker for nine seasons, ahead of those matchups.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo made Hightower one of his last coaching hires last February, appointing him inside linebackers coach; the same position Mayo held upon joining the coaching ranks in 2019 after leaving football. Hightower, 34, quietly left the NFL after playing his last season in 2021.
Late in his career, Hightower earned the nickname “Mr. February” from Bill Belichick; a nod to his clutch play in all three Super Bowls he played. Wilkins remarked Monday that Hightower could just as well be “Mr. August,” for his detailed preparation and dogged work ethic behind the scenes as a new assistant.
Some of Hightower’s players, namely backup inside linebackers Joe Giles-Harris and Christian Ellis, have been surprise performers in both the preseason and training camp.
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