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Xavier Worthy is standing outside of his comfort zone.

He’s on the turf at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, but he has to spend the day talking, not playing. It’s Big 12 media day. If he wants to be a team leader and in the mix for awards, he has to start doing these things. So here he is, standing in a black Texas polo, trying to abide and provide. He says his coach, Steve Sarkisian, reminded him of this: Not a lot of people know about you. There’s a reason for that.

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“I feel like I’m kind of a closed-off person,” Worthy said. “I never really, like, open myself up.”

One of the best wide receivers in college football has mostly kept to himself during his rise. Worthy will do press conferences when asked but tends to keep his answers short. Coaches say that’s just how X is: quiet, humble, focused. His mother, Nicky Jones, prefers to say he’s reserved. But he’s working on that. This year, he’s trying to become a better version of himself.

“I feel like y’all haven’t seen the best of me yet,” Worthy said.

We’ve seen the 6-foot-1, 172-pound wideout deliver big plays. We’re going to see plenty of him on Saturday night when his No. 11 Longhorns face No. 3 Alabama. But most don’t really know what he’s gone through in his first two years of college, nor is he inclined to share.

Worthy doesn’t talk about why he signed with Michigan in 2020, his brief stint in Ann Arbor and why that plan fell apart. He hasn’t opened up much about playing six games with a broken hand last season and how frustrating that became. The highs, the lows and the pressure of being Texas’ No. 1 receiver since his first college game — it’s hard for outsiders to understand.

But as he enters a defining junior season for himself and Texas, his head coach can tell he’s in a much better place today.

“He’s smiling so much more,” Sarkisian said. “You can almost feel like there’s a weight lifted off his shoulders. He’s enjoying playing the game.”

In fifth grade, Worthy tried cross country. Growing up in Fresno, Calif., he played all the other sports, too. When he signed up for this one, he didn’t realize how much running was required. At the district championship meet, he finished second.

“He came home with his little medal,” Jones said, “and he was pissed off.”

Worthy vowed that he’d win next time. He kept running. Mom got him better shoes. One year later, the sixth-grader brought home a first-place medal. His mother still treasures a photo of him proudly holding it up.

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“That’s Xavier,” she said. “His expectations for himself are so high. He’s extremely confident and he works hard to get it. He had to come in first because he put his mind to it.

“And once he did that? Yeah, no more cross country.”

Worthy became a top-100 recruit at Fresno Central East High School, but it didn’t happen right away. Though his blazing speed was no secret after a 10.55 PR in the 100 meters as a sophomore, Worthy caught 10 passes that year. His coaches pushed him, but what he responded to was competition. Jeremiah Hunter, their 1,500-yard receiver who now plays for Cal, was a year older, bigger and worked harder. Entering his junior season, Worthy didn’t have to match Hunter’s work ethic. He needed to exceed it.

“It was a great, healthy competition we had with those guys,” Central East coach Kyle Biggs said, “and that was the year we won state.”

Worthy’s lone scholarship offer before his junior year was San Jose State. The Pac-12 offers rolled in during that 15-0 season and CIF title in 2019. After 55 catches for 992 yards and 16 scores, the word was out. All of the schools in Worthy’s top six — Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Michigan and Oregon — were far from home. He told his mother he was seeking new experiences.

“I told her I wanted to see the rest of the world and see what’s going on,” he said. “I kinda wanted to sprout and just be a man.”

Unfortunately, as his recruiting process heated up, a pandemic was going on. Worthy couldn’t take official visits and had to build relationships over video chats. He became a big believer in Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and his “Speed in Space” mantra, and that connection persuaded him to commit to Michigan in July 2020.

Sarkisian, Alabama’s offensive coordinator at the time, never backed off. Worthy and Jones took a November trip to Alabama to attend an Iron Bowl win over Auburn and do a self-guided campus tour, sparking rumors that a flip was incoming. But Worthy stuck with Michigan and signed in December. Coach Jim Harbaugh called him “one of the top players in the country.”

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“I felt like that was where home was at,” Worthy said.

When he first picked Michigan, Worthy planned to be an early enrollee. His school district didn’t allow seniors to graduate early. Jones got creative. She got him enrolled in Apex Learning Virtual School, an online program, for the fall of 2020. It wasn’t easy to get that plan lined up without guidance counselors, but Jones ensured his class schedule met all graduation and NCAA initial eligibility requirements.

In early January 2021, two weeks before Worthy would move to Ann Arbor with J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards and the Wolverines’ freshman enrollees, a problem emerged. Michigan has strict admissions standards for midyear enrollees, one former staffer said, and wasn’t able to get Worthy admitted into school. He was told that based on his academic profile, it would be better to enroll in June for U-M’s summer bridge program. His mother was stunned.

“For me, that didn’t fly,” she said. “I turned in all of his academic paperwork and applications in September. As far as I had been told, up until two weeks before, he was on track to enroll early. There was nothing missing, nothing short, they’d waived the SATs. It didn’t make sense. Something wasn’t right. What’s the problem and why am I finding out about this now?”

Worthy still wanted to honor his commitment. He moved to Ann Arbor and got an apartment. When Michigan posted a video of midyear move-in day on Jan. 16, Worthy was missing. Two days later, he announced on Twitter that “to end all the drama and speculations I am not enrolling early.” But he was in town. Since he wasn’t enrolled, he wasn’t allowed to work out in the football facility. All he could do was join Zoom meetings. After a strange month of trying to make it work, he moved back home.

“Michigan messed that up,” Jones said. “The trust wasn’t there. For us, trust is so big in everything. We just never felt like we were getting the truth about what happened. It was just a lot of, ‘We’re sorry.’”

The 17-year-old returned to Fresno to rethink his future. It didn’t make him feel any better that Central East was playing a five-game spring season and he couldn’t participate. During a loss to rival Buchanan, Biggs looked to Worthy on the sideline and told him, “Sure could use you right now.”

If he wasn’t going to Michigan, Worthy knew where he needed to be.

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“I was going wherever Sark went,” he said.

Sarkisian had landed the Texas job two weeks after signing day. Biggs has known him since 2010 and always believed he was trustworthy.

“I kind of hoped X was going to choose Alabama to be with Sark,” Biggs said. “So this whole thing was like, all right, well, maybe this wasn’t supposed to happen. We can get you teamed up and get you where you’re wanted, where people can take advantage of your ability.”

Worthy officially asked to be released from his National Letter of Intent in April and committed to the Longhorns during their spring game. He’d never been to Austin before and didn’t consider anywhere else. It felt like fate, and the fit was obvious after watching Sarkisian’s offense turn DeVonta Smith into a Heisman Trophy winner. He couldn’t wait to get started.

“It was really exciting,” Worthy said. “I was so young and I was coming into something that’s new, but Sark was new, too. I felt like I had a fresh start and a clean slate.”

He hadn’t played in a game in a year and a half. He didn’t work with trainers. During the pandemic, Worthy ordered a set of ladders and cones, laid them out in the backyard, studied YouTube videos and tore up the yard with his cleats. Mom asked whether he needed to work out in a helmet and pads. He assured her he’d be fine.

At Texas, Worthy was a starter from Day 1. He scored three touchdowns in his first Big 12 game. But it was the epic Red River Rivalry game in 2021 that put him on the national radar. First play of the game? A screen on the perimeter. Worthy stiff-armed a Sooner and raced down the sideline for a 75-yard score.

🚨 TOUCHDOWN TEXAS ON THE FIRST PLAY OF THE GAME 🚨

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 9, 2021

Midway through the fourth quarter, Worthy fumbled a kickoff return. Oklahoma scored right away to pull ahead 48-41. Worthy responded with a 48-yard reception, then a leaping 31-yard touchdown to tie it up in the final minutes. Mom tried to hold back the tears while watching him put up 261 receiving yards. For a freshman, it was an experience like no other.

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“Everybody in the locker room expressed what kind of game that was. To me, I’m not from Texas. I’m from California. So I wasn’t really too nervous,” he said. “It’s basically like another game for me. And I go off in that game and everybody was chanting, ‘X! X! X! I’m like, oh shoot, that’s crazy.”

Caleb Williams, Oklahoma’s freshman quarterback, was the one who got the glory for a comeback victory. But another star was born that day. Worthy went on to have a Freshman All-America season and pick up first-team All-Big 12 and Offensive Freshman of the Year honors after leading his team with 981 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. The Longhorns lost five of their last six after that thriller in the Cotton Bowl, but Sarkisian had a difference maker he could build around.

“I just want to build off that,” Worthy said after the season, “and go win a Big 12 championship.”

Texas was better in 2022. Worthy was not. What went wrong?

Sarkisian revealed this spring that Worthy played with a broken hand for the second half of the season. When asked to explain how he did it, Worthy shrugs.

“Shoot, I truly couldn’t tell you,” he said.

He won’t say which hand was broken. Won’t say when or how he broke it. Did it happen in a game? “I don’t remember.” The truth is he didn’t initially know it was broken. He was under the impression it was a bone bruise, one that made pass catching a painful experience.

“I really couldn’t squeeze nothing,” Worthy said. “You let it hit your hands and you’ve got to try to hold onto it. I used to get taped before every game. Extra tape. A lot of tape.”

You could see tape poking out of Worthy’s right glove when Texas played Kansas State on Nov. 5. His hand began bothering him during the Longhorns’ previous game, a 41-34 road loss at Oklahoma State. Quarterback Quinn Ewers threw his way 14 times. Worthy had three catches. Wind, inaccuracy and inexperience all contributed to that, but their connection wasn’t quite right that afternoon.

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Worthy refused to sit out and tried to tough it out. He says his teammates needed him and he was playing for them. Some days in practice, Sarkisian said, they wouldn’t throw him the ball in an attempt to manage the injury. They managed to keep it a secret, too.

“I feel like everything isn’t everybody’s business,” Worthy said.

“That’s X, man,” Biggs said. “He’s not gonna tell you s—.”

When asked why he never disclosed the injury last season, Sarkisian offered a stern reply: “Because I don’t have to tell you.” Ewers, the Longhorns’ young starter, said they tried to keep that information “inside the four walls” of the football facility and praised Worthy’s selflessness.

“I think he handled it as best as he could,” Ewers said.

The trade-off for that privacy: If fans don’t know, they don’t get it. Worthy had four catches for 32 yards and two drops on 12 targets in a loss to No. 4 TCU. He had three more drops in the Alamo Bowl loss to No. 12 Washington. Worthy finished with 60 catches for 760 yards and nine scores on 113 targets. There were 53 receivers in the FBS last season who saw 100-plus targets, according to TruMedia. Worthy catching 53 percent of his ranked 49th among them.

One troubling development: Texas couldn’t hit the long ball. Ewers finished with 274 passing yards on throws of more than 20 yards last season, which ranked 120th out of 131 FBS teams. Worthy ran 93 go routes, was targeted 24 times and had just one catch, a 46-yarder against Alabama. Those growing pains combined with rising expectations and an injury that wasn’t improving made for a difficult year.

“I knew something was wrong with him,” Biggs said. “He didn’t have the same demeanor on the sideline and in games, that killer instinct. So to find out he was playing with a broken hand and not saying anything didn’t surprise me. Because he’s not going to make excuses. He’s not going to complain.

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“When X plays, he’s smiling and he’s having fun. I didn’t see that last year.”

After the bowl game, Worthy was re-evaluated and learned he’d played with a broken right hand. He wore a cast for eight weeks. Fortunately, it healed without requiring surgery. He put a tennis ball machine in his apartment and built up his strength with one-handed catches. He feels fully healthy now and is glad all that’s in the past. But he kept another part of that struggle to himself.

“The mental aspect was kind of hard,” Worthy said. “It’s hard not to read everything. Social media is a big thing in the world. It was just hard. But now I’m past it. My mental got stronger, emotionally I’m stronger and physically I’m stronger.”

Worthy has found a new comfort zone.

On Saturday afternoon, he sat down in his uniform and leaned against the goal post in the south end zone of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. He closed his eyes and took time to meditate before hopping up to begin pregame warm-ups.

“He told me that before every game, he’ll sit for five minutes and silence everything,” Jones said.

Xavier Worthy locking in #HookEm

— Jeff Barker (@JeffBarker_) September 2, 2023

She encouraged him to give it a try to refocus, stay centered and keep things in perspective. After what Worthy went through in 2022, he needed new methods for self-care to deal with pressure and get back in the right headspace. Jones reminded him of a saying that hangs in her office: Never become intoxicated by success or paralyzed by failure.

His first two seasons at Texas provided experience in both extremes. This year, he’s aiming for a healthier balance. Sarkisian has vowed people would start seeing a dramatically different version of Worthy. So far, so good. Worthy kicked off his junior season with seven catches for 90 yards against Rice. He made guys miss. He had zero drops. He looked like X again.

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“I think the guy is having more fun now than he’s ever had here,” Sarkisian said.

Despite his frustrations, Worthy insists he did not seriously consider transferring at the end of last year, as was widely rumored. “Just a lot of people talking,” he said. Why stay? Because he came to Texas to play for Sark and wants to finish it out with him.

Sarkisian frequently praised Worthy throughout the offseason for the way he “re-committed” himself to the program and to his teammates. Now that Bijan Robinson is off to the NFL, Worthy is the dude who sparks Texas’ offense. But it’s so much more than that.

Worthy needed to build up his chemistry with Ewers. He had to keep refining and become a more complete receiver. It was time to become a leader and help bring along touted freshmen like Johntay Cook. He’s been the first guy on the practice field and one of the last to leave. He got serious about his nutrition. He’s sitting in the front row of meetings. He’s wearing No. 1 now, his old high school number. He’s playing more relaxed. The confidence that impressed everyone during his freshman campaign is back.

“I don’t think people get how hard he works, because nobody sees it,” Texas receiver Jordan Whittington said. “But that’s one of the good things about him. He doesn’t need a spotlight to go to work. He’s a guy who behind the scenes has been really working on perfecting his craft. I’m really excited to see him play. He’s truly one of the best receivers in the nation.”

Worthy is ready to remind everyone of that against Alabama. He grinned this week and said he feels like he’s living his best life. The past few years have left Jones thoroughly convinced that all these good and bad things happened for a reason.

They’ve changed Worthy for the better. If you know him, you’ll notice.

“Seeing him evolve as a man and a person, I think that’s been the best part for me,” she said. “Everybody just sees a football player. But that’s my son. I’m seeing him grow up and make decisions and become this man. I’m just really proud.”

(Top photo: Josh Hedges/Getty Images)