No. 7 Texas' Xavier Worthy named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week
No. 7 Texas’ wide receiver Xavier Worthy earned Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors, the conference office announced on Monday. It marked the first weekly conference award of the season for Worthy and the second of his career.
[Get 50 PERCENT off an Inside Texas annual subscription!]
Worthy was superb in the Longhorns’ 35-6 victory over BYU on Saturday, notably with a punt return for a touchdown to open the scoring. Overall, he returned two punts for 89 yards with one touchdown. His 74-yard punt return was the 10th-longest in program history and the first punt return for a score by a Longhorn since 2018. It was also the first punt return for a touchdown allowed by the Cougars since 2019.
The junior and Fresno, Calif. product tallied 27 yards on three catches, extending his streak of games with a reception to 33 in a row, tied for the fourth-longest streak in program history. Worthy previously earned Big 12 weekly accolades as the Newcomer of the Week in September 2021.
The Longhorns will host No. 25 Kansas State on Saturday, November 4th at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. and the game will broadcast live on FOX.
Texas’ 2023 Big 12 Weekly Honors
Week 2 at Alabama – Quinn Ewers (Offensive)
Week 2 at Alabama – Adonai Mitchell (Newcomer)
Week 5 vs. Kansas – Jonathon Brooks (Offensive)
Week 5 vs. Kansas – Adonai Mitchell (Newcomer)
Week 9 vs. BYU – Xavier Worthy (Special Teams)
On3 PERSONAL LIFE
Worthy made an instant impact on the Forty Acres after arriving at Texas as the nation’s second-best receiver prospect in the 2021 recruiting class out of Fresno’s Central East High School. In 2021, Worthy garnered multiple true freshman All-American honors and first-team All-Big 12 recognition. He was also selected as the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year after racking up 62 receptions for 981 yards and 12 touchdowns – all single-season UT freshman records. As a sophomore, Worthy was a second-team All-Big 12 pick after totaling 60 receptions for 760 yards and nine touchdowns. He entered the 2023 season as a unanimous preseason all-league pick and preseason watch list honors for the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year, Biletnikoff Award, Paul Hornung Award and the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award. Worthy is majoring in Physical Culture and Sports. While in high school he ran a personal best 10.55-second 100-meter-dash time.
