Longhorns Star WR Xavier Worthy 'Leaning Toward Staying' Amid Transfer Rumors

Despite transfer rumors, Longhorns star wideout Xavier Worthy is reportedly leaning towards remaining in Austin.

Matt Galatzan | Dec 1, 2022

AUSTIN - Are the questions surrounding the Texas Longhorns' future of star wide receiver Xavier Worthy finally coming to and end?

According to a report from Horns247.com's Chip Brown, that appears to be the case, with Worthy now 'leaning toward staying' after the Longhorns put a 'full court press' on the star sophomore in recent days.

Brown's report comes just days after Steve Sarkisian was forced to address Worthy's rumored unhappiness within the program.

“I think the one part about Xavier is this, he is a highly competitive young man," Sarkisian said. "He has a high sense of competitiveness and drive to be the best. And he works that way every day. Sometimes when you don't get the result of it and that can become a sense of frustration. But I would much rather have a receiver that's frustrated that he didn't contribute more to a win, that a guy who is content on going on the field and playing and the ball not coming his way."

So why exactly is Worthy frustrated?

Perhaps it had something to do with the Longhorns' heavy reliance on the running game toward the end of the year.

Or maybe it was due to inconsistencies in the team's passing game down the stretch, where Worthy was held to just 13 catches for 104 yards and zero touchdowns.

And that could be exactly the kind of 'full court press' that Sarkisian put onto Worthy in recent days, pitching him on how the Longhorns can improve in that aspect of the offense.

Sarkisian said as much on Monday. He also knows what he has in Worthy.

"Addressing the passing game is going to be a critical component to what we do," Sarkisian said. "It'd be hard to find a guy that in his first two years of college football at the Power 5 level has 21 touchdown catches in two years. So, he's been off to a pretty good start, but I think his best days are ahead of him."

In two seasons at Texas, Worthy has totaled 115 catches for 1,657 yards and 21 touchdowns, averaging 14.4 yards per reception.

And hopefully for the Longhorns, if nothing changes, they will get that kind of production back again in 2023.

You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan

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Published Dec 1, 2022

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.