Texas football star Xavier Worthy struggled down the stretch of the 2022 season because of an injury, according to Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian. The Texas football coach told the media Monday that Worthy played with a broken hand.
“That guy never wanted to sit out, not play,” Steve Sarkisian said of Worthy. “He fought through it… we are going to see a (different) version of Xavier Worthy (next season)”
Worthy thrived as a rookie in Sarkisian's first year as the Texas football coach. The receiver caught 62 passes for 981 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2021. Worthy's production dipped to 760 yards in the 2022 college football season.
Worthy had a few standout performances to start the 2022 season. The sophomore had a 97-yard game on Sept. 10 against Alabama. Worthy went for a season-high 119 yards three weeks later against West Virginia. Worthy never reached the 85-yard mark for the rest of the season.
Sarkisian praised Worthy for continuing to play with the injury.
“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.”
Sarkisian led Texas to an 8-5 record last season, improving on a 5-7 campaign the year prior.
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Manning will compete with Quinn Ewers to be the Longhorns' starting quarterback next season
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