FLOWERY BRANCH — Qwan’tez Stiggers, distraught and in an emotionally bad place after the death of his father, gave up his football dream.
After playing in high school at Atlanta’s B.E.S.T. Academy, Stiggers was at Lane College in Tennessee when he decided to throw in the towel and return home.
After an unpredictable chain of events, Stiggers found himself in Toronto playing for the Argonauts in the Canadian Football League. Now, since his graduating class is up, he’s eligible to enter the NFL draft after winning the CFL’s rookie-of-the-year award.
“First and foremost, I want to thank Toronto for the opportunity that they gave me,” Stiggers told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That helped me with my frustration.”
Stiggers, who’s 6-foot and 197 pounds, believes he can play in the NFL after not playing in college. In 1991, Eric Swann, a defensive tackle who never attended college, was drafted sixth overall by the Cardinals and played 10 seasons in the NFL.
“You know, sitting down with my agent Fred (Lyles), it’s time to sit down and move on to the next chapter, including being eligible for the NFL draft,” Stiggers said. “Having the opportunity to play in (an All-Star game). Doing a couple of pro days and stuff like that. So, I feel like the NFL is the next chapter for me.”
Let’s rewind to the beginning at B.E.S.T., where Stiggers was the punter and kicker his freshmen and sophomore seasons.
“I didn’t play until like my 11th-grade year,” Stiggers said. “It was my 11th-grade year that they put me at safety.”
As a senior, he started playing all over the field.
“In my 12th-grade year, that’s when I started playing corner, receiver, running back and quarterback,” Stiggers said. “We only had 27 people on the team, so I had to play all positions.”
After high school, Stiggers was lightly recruited, and in February 2020 his father was injured in a bad car accident. He died in September 2020.
“I had a couple of NAIA (scholarship offers), a couple of Division II schools,” Stiggers said. “Lane offered me. I started real, real late. It was a scholarship for track, but it was like a track scholarship for me to play football.”
The grief was a lot for Stiggers to handle.
“I went for like a week or two, and that’s when I decided that was too much pain to endure, so I just went home to be there for my little brothers – and stuff like that,” Stiggers said.
He kept trying to get moving, but the death of his father was just too much.
“I just felt like I couldn’t do it,” Stiggers said. “I dropped out and came home. I took a year off.”
Stiggers thought he needed to be a father figure to his younger siblings.
“Just being around them, being in their presence,” Stiggers said. “At the time, it was just my mom, my little brothers and me. Just coming back home and being the father figure that they needed. They didn’t have a father figure because our father passed.”
His mother, Kwanna Stiggers, made a move that changed things.
“That’s when my momma signed me up for the Fan Controlled Football,” Stiggers said. “Through the Fan Controlled is how I got to the Argonauts.”
Stiggers thought he had moved on to the next stage of his life.
“I was done with football,” Stiggers said. “I was ready to just work a 9 to 5 (job). She signed me up the rest is history.”
Fan Controlled Football was a seven-on-seven league that played in 2021 and 2022 at Pullman Yards in Atlanta.
“I had a tryout at the Silverbacks (soccer team) stadium in Atlanta,” Stiggers said. “I played in that league. Led the league in interceptions. I think I came in second place for the defensive player of the year. After that, that’s when (John) Jenkins (a CFL scout) got me a opportunity to play in Toronto.”
Falcons defensive back Dee Alford, who’s from Griffin and played in college at Tusculum, also got his start in the Canadian Football League.
“He was the rookie of the year,” Alford said. “That’s great.”
Alford won a Grey Cup with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, where he played in 2020 and 2021 before signing with the Falcons.
He knows the adjustment that Stiggers would have to make from the CFL to the NFL.
“The biggest adjustment from being a defensive back in the CFL is pretty much getting that waggle down pat,” Alford said. “On offense they get that jump-start, that running start with the receivers. Once you slow it down mentally, and adjust to that type of speed, you’ll be fine.”
Stiggers already has one fan in Alford.
“I’m pretty sure, defensive back, that’s what he was able to get rookie of the year,” Alford said. “Once it slows down over here, you can excel.”
Stiggers said he settled into the CFL game quickly.
“With me, it was really easy for me,” Stiggers said. “It only took me a couple days to get used to the waggle and the one yard (scrimmage zone) off (the line of scrimmage), the third down and how wide the field is. After you do something for a certain amount of time, it’s pretty much becomes first nature.”
Stiggers’ agent, Lyles, has represented some of the NFL’s top defensive backs in Chris Harris and A.J. Bouye.
“Those guys were Pro Bowlers and All-Pro guys,” Lyles said. “Looking at Stiggers, he most definitely possesses the same traits those guys possessed at this point in their careers. That’s what really got my attention. The really great thing about Stiggers is that he’s got great size and speed and a tremendous amount of athleticism.”
Several NFL teams have been in contact with Lyles, and Stiggers may get a shot from one of the postseason all-star games. One is waiting for his tape from the CFL.
“Qwan’tez is in a unique situation,” Lyles said. “The NFL teams have never had a situation where you get a young man with his skill set, athletic ability as well as his intelligence. ... I’ve gotten calls from at least half of the GMs in the NFL.”
Stiggers is married and has a son. His wife’s name is Cheyenne, and his son is named Legend.
He started 15 games at cornerback for the Argonauts and was named to the East Division all-star team. He made 53 tackles, three special-teams tackles, and had five interceptions in 16 games. He was the first defensive back to win the most-outstanding rookie award since 1998.
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