Frankie Hickson
American gridiron football player (born 1997)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frankie Hickson (born March 17, 1997) is an American professional football running back who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Liberty.
Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S.
Hickson with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Running back | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | March 17, 1997 Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Heritage (VA) | ||||||||||||
| College | Liberty (2015–2019) | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2020: undrafted | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Career CFL statistics | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Early life
Hickson was born on March 17, 1997, in Lynchburg, Virginia.[1] His father was a football coach for the Liberty Flames from 2004 to 2008.[2] He attended Heritage High School in Lynchburg and posted 4,233 rushing yards with 65 touchdowns, recording 2,169 yards and 37 scores alone as a senior.[3] He was named a first-team selection on the class 3A all-state squad.[4] Hickson committed to play college football for the Liberty Flames over offers from Dartmouth, VMI, Air Force and Navy.[3][5]
College career
As a true freshman at Liberty in 2015, Hickson redshirted and saw no playing time.[3][6] In 2016, he played primarily as a return specialist, returning kickoffs for a total of 707 yards, the second-best single-season total in school history.[7] He was named second-team All-Big South Conference for his performance and earned the honor again in 2017 for his special teams contributions.[7]
Hickson moved up Liberty's depth chart at running back in 2018, totaling 1,032 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the season.[2][8] As a senior, he was named honorable mention independent all-conference as he compiled 1,041 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.[7][9] Hickson finished his stint at the school with 610 carries for 2,898 yards and 30 scores while playing 47 games, additionally breaking the all-time program record for all-purpose yards with 4,494.[2]
Professional career
Hickson went unselected in the 2020 NFL draft and remained unsigned through the 2021 season.[10] His father was able to get the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) to have him tryout in 2022.[2] Hickson was signed, made the final roster, and became the Roughriders' second-string running back behind Jamal Morrow.[2][7] In Saskatchewan's week five victory over the Ottawa Redblacks, he ran five times for 92 yards and scored a 63-yard touchdown.[11] After being a backup for most of the season, Hickson was thrust into a starting role after an injury to Morrow in August and tallied 129 rushing yards in his first start, against the BC Lions.[12] He finished the season with 13 games played, four as a starter, and 85 carries for 533 yards with one score, additionally posting 17 receptions for 109 yards.[6]
On February 11, 2025, he became a free agent.
