What do iconic high school wide receivers do after their playing days are over?
Well, the ones who appreciate what football did for them make a conscientious choice to give back to the game and the area where they grew up.
Consider Robert Wiggs one of those guys.
The 29-year-old graduated in 2011 as Nottingham’s all-time leader in pass receptions and passing yards and was also Mercer County’s career receptions leader (although the county record has since been broken). He was one of the area’s most electrifying players and was also a track & field standout.
Wiggs took both talents to Wesley College and had some impressive moments with the now-defunct Division III powerhouse program that was bought out by the University of Delaware.
Wiggs now works full time for the New Jersey State Police, but coaching younger players has gotten into his system in a big way. He now runs Playmaker Athletics in Ewing, which provides football-specific training and 7-on-7 AAU teams, student-athlete educational programs, and personal training and weight loss.
Along with that, he coaches youth football, guiding the Ewing Junior Blue Devils 10-11 varsity and JV teams to the championship game of the South Jersey Independent Youth Football Association.
“It’s actually becoming my passion,” Wiggs said. “I went to school for multimedia communications, cameras and things like that. That was kind of my passion at first. Now I love just giving back to the youth and giving the youth some lessons. Coaching them is something that’s very passionate with me. I want to be an offensive coordinator somewhere in Mercer County for a high school team. Maybe about two or three years somewhere down the line, after I get a chance to get better at it.”
Former Northstars coach Jon “Big Dawg” Adams said he is not surprised at how Wiggs has embraced his new role. During the time Wiggs played, Adams had a shortage of position coaches and decided to put Wiggs in charge of receivers. He also brought him back to talk to younger players when he was on break from college.
“He’s done a phenomenal job,” Adams said. “His program’s record speaks for itself from what he’s accomplished this year. He’s always had a great way with younger kids and having that desire to work with the kids.
“He’s always been an energetic kid. He wants to give back to the community. He’s not afraid to roll up his sleeves. He reached out to quite a few former Nottingham and Mercer County studs. (Former Northstars) Kendrick Williams and Esayah Obado and quite a few other guys have gotten involved. He’s such an energetic and magnetic personality, it’s hard to say no to him. He’s a great recruiter. I’m really proud and happy and pleased he’s doing so well.”
Wiggs began his journey four years ago when his good friend, the late philanthropist Darvin “Dinky” Henderson, founded Playmaker Athletics as a way to help young football players not only learn the game, but learn other facets important to playing football, such as training and academics.
When the Ewing High graduate passed away in November 2021, Wiggs stepped up to run the program.
“When he passed, we didn’t know what we were gonna do,” Wiggs said. “So, we continued to push the league along. We know that’s what he would have wanted us to do. Over time I fell into the position and have been running the whole program. I like kids, I’m the youngest one here, so I’ve got more time than some of the other coaches.”
This past year PMA had four different age groups of 7-on-7 teams from ages 10U to 18U. Those squads take on teams from other areas during the high school off-season.
“Football has become a 24-hour, year-round thing,” Wiggs said. “In Texas now, they actually have spring football. It’s like college. What we have is seven-on-seven passing with quarterbacks, receivers, defensive backs and linebackers.”
There is not much contact, as the program is designed to work on skills. Wiggs noted that some of Notre Dame High School’s top players have come through the system, including quarterback AJ Surace, running back Rasheen Young, receivers Wyatt Moore and Michael “Cooper Kupp” Quinn and linebacker Cam Bailey.
“We have a lot of guys on that team where, as you watch them play in high school, they look in sync with each other because they play with each other all season in our program,” Wiggs said. “A lot of kids in PMA are in my Ewing program. That’s how I try to implement everything. You take what you’re trained in 7 on 7 and as the season starts your receiver-quarterback relationship should be a lot better.”
The program is expanding this year to where it is forming its own league. There will be tryouts in the Robbinsville Bubble in January, followed by practices and preseason tournaments.
“We basically enter the tournaments as a preseason warm-up,” Wiggs said. “For our league, we’re going to do it at TCA (Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy). We’ll have it like flag football, where the teams play each other within the league and then play for a championship. From there we’re looking to take the best kids from each team and create a national team and submit that for a national tournament.
“My thing is just to keep Mercer County talent in Mercer County and try to develop it. We do accept kids from out of the county, but I’m really looking to develop Mercer talent.”
In doing so, Wiggs has collected a strong core of coaches. He is the offensive coordinator and works with the receivers. His former quarterback at Nottingham, Esayah Obado, is the QB coach. Former Hightstown and Lehigh standout Jamil Robinson handles the defensive backs. Former high school assistant Amir Siddiqu is defensive coordinator, and Florence grad Jordan “JT” Stockton, now a Hamilton West assistant, coaches running backs.
And while it is an impressive lineup of instructors, PMA goes beyond just football education.
Henderson’s close friend, Ebony Semmon, took over ownership of the franchise after Henderson’s death. Semmon, an 8th grade language arts teacher at Village Charter School in Trenton, is in charge of the PMA Learning Center based in Ewing.
“If kids in our program need tutoring, they can just contact us and we’ll have one-on-one tutoring sessions with them,” Wiggs said. “Ebony is one of the lead tutors, and she has a few friends that teach as well. We use her connections to find who needs whatever. If they need help in math and we’re not too strong in the math suit, we’ll find somebody in teaching who teaches math.”
Wiggs feels the learning center is an absolute must if he is trying to ready young players for high school football and beyond.
“Of course you want to get them prepared for the next game, but I’m thinking about five or ten years down the line,” he said. “I feel if they’re able to be implemented with tutoring and feeling comfortable asking for help and things like that they’ll be fine. When I was in college I kind of felt uncomfortable going to the tutoring center just the way they would talk to me, the way the environment was. I know if I felt like that, then there are kids who feel like that, So I want them to feel comfortable and to understand it’s OK to ask for help.”
Wiggs also wants his players to be ready for their seasons by being in the best shape possible. As the godson of former San Francisco 49ers strength & conditioning coach Duane Carlisle, who is now the fitness coach for NFL officials, Wiggs knew the importance of off-season training and spent the summers before his junior and senior years at Nottingham working out with Carlisle in California.
The impact those workouts had on Wiggs were never forgotten, which is why he has started the fitness program at Nonstop Fitness Gym in Lawrenceville.
“One of my good friends, (former Ewing player) Alex Bailey, is one of the trainers there,” Wiggs said. ‘He’ll be our head strength and conditioning coach. One thing we struggle with in Mercer County is training all years round. If you’re part of PMA, you’ll get a year-round discounted training price over there. I just know that when I did those off-season workouts I had the best two years of my career.”
In essence, Wiggs is providing the complete package for youth players, and his former coach could not be more impressed. “
“To see him thriving with what he’s doing makes me feel really good,” Adams said. “I worked a camp with him this summer and I intend to work that camp as long as he has it. I have some ideas. I’d like to sit down with him and try to get more people involved and more kids involved.”
Adams is currently Nottingham’s athletic director, but will be leaving that post this year.
“I want to get back in coaching and who knows, I may be working with him,” Adams said. “He’s doing an amazing job. He was always one of my leaders when he was in the program, and a guy I would go to. I’d especially want him working with guys with potential. He had that amazing ability to change direction and things like that, and he would teach them how to do that.”
Wiggs feels that because of his youth, he is able to easily communicate with younger players.
“As long as you’re able to relate and understand where they’re coming from — saying certain things and speaking a certain way — I feel like it becomes rather easy,” he said. “We listen to the same music, we play the same video games. I feel that makes it easier to coach them and to relate to each other.”
And in the process, it allows Wiggs to give back to the sport and community that has helped him become a solid citizen and fast-rising community leader.
Robert Wiggs works with young football players at Playmaker Athletics on Spruce Street in Ewing.,
