Junior wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who helped lead the Texas Longhorns to their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, is leaving the team for the NFL next season. Less than a day after the team’s Sugar Bowl loss to the Washington Huskies, the deep threat declared for the 2024 NFL Draft and is regarded as a possible first-round pick.
The 6’1, 172-pound speedster from Fresno, California, gained notoriety for his elusive speed, deft route running, and ability to score a home run on any play throughout the previous few seasons as a passing threat. The wide receiver was effective on special teams, as he returned punts in addition to his offensive output.
Worthy, a consensus four-star prospect out of Fresno (Calif.) Central East, originally signed with Michigan after being released from his National Letter of Intent four months later. He then committed to the new Texas head coach, Steve Sarkisian. According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Worthy is ranked as the No. 62 player overall and the No. 8 wide receiver in the 2021 recruiting class.
Worthy’s decision paid off immediately, as he emerged as the Longhorns’ top wide receiver in 2021 with 62 receptions for 981 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also set single-season school freshman records in every category, earning him a spot on multiple Freshman All-American teams, first-team All-Big 12 recognition, and Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year—the first Texas player to do so since Colt McCoy in 2006. Worthy produced 15 plays of 20 yards or more, seven of which resulted in touchdowns, thanks to his exceptional speed and explosive ability in the open field.
Despite playing with a broken hand in his sophomore season, Worthy’s output fell to 60 receptions for 760 yards and nine touchdowns. He also struggled to track the ball and dropped seven passes. However, he did start to show promise as a punt returner, taking over that role with 15 punt returns for 146 yards.
Worthy returned to the Forty Acres for offseason conditioning in order to finally put an end to rumors about a possible departure, despite removing all references to Texas from his social media, being evasive about a return, and throwing three passes in the Alamo Bowl loss to Washington, which sparked a social media firestorm.
As a junior, Worthy recovered with 67 receptions for 883 yards and five touchdowns in the regular season; the only major blemish on a season that saw a marked improvement in receiving yardage came in three drops versus BYU. With a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown in the victory over the Cougars and a punt return touchdown called back due to a penalty in the victory over the Cyclones—in which Worthy achieved the highest speed of any college football player this season—Worthy showed why he was a dangerous weapon when it came to punt returns. By demonstrating that he is a valuable return specialist in the return game, Worthy has raised his NFL draft stock this season, averaging 16.1 yards per return on 23 returns for 371 yards.
Worthy has made 39 starts in total during the last three seasons. During that period, he won numerous accolades, including 2022 second-team All-Big 12, 2021 first-team All-Big 12, 2021 Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, 2021 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, and Freshman All American.
In terms of career touchdown receptions, he now holds the third-best ranking, having set multiple Texas records. Worthy hauled in 2,755 yards and 26 touchdowns with 197 receptions. During his time in burnt orange, he also returned a punt for a touchdown and passed for a touchdown. It was impossible to deny his involvement in the offense.
Worthy’s departure drastically alters Texas’s prospects for the upcoming campaign. All indications point to a drastically different wide receiving corps for Texas the next season, most possibly without all three of this year’s starting pass catchers: tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, A.D. Mitchell, and Jordan Whittington. In Worthy’s absence, the onus of producing will go on untested wide receivers such as consensus five-star signee Ryan Wingo, Houston transfer Matthew Golden, and rising sophomore Johntay Cook.
Leave a Reply