Chiefs star Xavier Worthy’s road to Super Bowl started with humble beginnings in Fresno
Xavier Worthy had a feeling he was going to be a Kansas City Chief, long before the 2024 NFL draft took place.
During a phone call to Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes, Worthy told him he’s going to be a Chief.
Mahomes pumped the brakes, according to Worthy’s mom, Nicky Jones. Let’s wait and find out, the quarterback said.
But Worthy was confident he would land with the Chiefs — even when the Buffalo Bills had a pick when they could’ve paired Worthy with NFL Most Valuable Player Josh Allen, formerly of Firebaugh High and Reedley College.
Instead, the Bills traded the pick to the Chiefs. Not long after, the Chiefs made Worthy look like Nostradamus. And has he since helped the Chiefs return to the Super Bowl, where they will play the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans on Sunday night from the Caesars Superdome — as a rookie, no less.
Long before his arrival to the NFL, here’s the journey Worthy took from playing football in his hometown of Fresno at Central High School, to college at the University of Texas to the NFL.
First time playing football
It was at a Walmart where Jones put her son’s name on a sign-up sheet to play for West Fresno when he was in kindergarten. She wanted to see if he would fall in love with the sport because he often would go outside and play basketball with his uncle.
Worthy was impressive already at a young age and “fast.”
“He was just really athletic, and unlike most kids at that age that are like a little uncoordinated, which is normal, he was just really coordinated,” Jones said.
The coaches even put Worthy in different positions such as quarterback and cornerback to see how he would fare. He was still impressive and was outworking his teammates.
Then, there was a time where he wanted to quit because it was just too much.
“I never really let him quit anything,” Jones said, “but I did let him quit that year.”
Joining an after-school program
While in fourth grade, Worthy joined an after-school program and was hanging out with friends. His friends played sports and he joined them. That is when Worthy decided to play football again.
His love for football started there while playing for the Edison Pop Warner team and Jones said “he actually started to really like it.”
He was still lining up at quarterback but also other positions, but not as much when he first started playing, Jones said.
In 2012, as often as they would, Worthy would share with his mom of someday playing in the NFL for the Eagles because of his admiration of wide receiver Desean Jackson. He also stated he wanted to play for the University of Michigan.
“I’m like, ‘Michigan’s really far,’” Jones said.
“He was really expressing what he wanted to do football-wise and at that fourth-grade year mark, fifth-grade year mark, that’s when he was in Pop Warner and he was really good at that point and I mean he just continued his trajectory.”
Worthy went on to play for Wawona in middle school before going to Central High.
Big leaps in high school
Central High coach Kyle Biggs recalls meeting Worthy for the first time and he weighed 130 pounds.
That certainly didn’t bother Biggs because he recalled seeing Worthy “fly.”
Worthy played on the JV team his freshman year. He was promoted to varsity his sophomore year and finished with three touchdowns and 259 receiving yards.
Trent Tompkins, Central’s quarterback that season, said he wished he played with Worthy more — and maybe the would’ve connected for 20 touchdowns.
“Pretty much everyone knew Xavier was going to be special,” Tompkins said. “Everyone knew he was capable of doing whatever he set his mind to.”
Worthy was impressive his junior season, finishing with 992 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns, all thrown by Jameson Silva. Worthy helped the Grizzlies to the school’s first state title with a win over Sierra Canyon and a 15-0 record.
Silva described Worthy as a “humble” person who didn’t say much at practice.
“He’s not about the glory for himself,” Silva said. “He’s a team player. He always wanted to win at Central. That was his main thing: wanting to win.”
Off to college
College initially was a little problematic for Worthy. He committed to play for Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines, but he never made it to Ann Arbor because of an enrollment snafu. It was back to the recruiting trail.
Worthy had an offer from Alabama before choosing Michigan, but former Crimson Tide assistant Steve Sarkisian ended up being the head coach at Texas. Soon thereafter, the Longhorns made an offer.
Worthy and his mom made the trip to Austin, but it was the relationship he built with Sarkisian that is the reason why he chose to play for Texas. He starred for Texas by finishing with 2,755 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns, with most of his TDs coming in his freshman season with 981 yards and 12 touchdowns.
His speed and dependable hands caught many of the NFL clubs eyes — especially when he clocked a 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, which is the fastest time recorded at the annual event. Mahomes was surprised by the fastest-time mark, but little did he know Worthy would be his teammate.
Shining in the NFL
The Chiefs made Worthy their first-round NFL draft pick of the 2024 draft (28th overall) after the trade with the Bills.
It turned out to be the right fit for both as Worthy led the team’s receivers with 638 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns. Jones said Worthy had a lot of help from DeAndre Hopkins along the way.
She said the journey that her son took was worth it and she advised parents with kids playing sports to not give up on your child’s dreams.
Just to be their biggest fan, she said, because on Sunday she’ll be cheering loudly for Worthy in New Orleans.
“One of the best things and the best parts about this for me is just seeing my son stay grounded, stay humble, remain confident and remain who he is,” she said, “but also grow, which is something like we always talked about: Just don’t change. Grow.”
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This story was originally published February 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM.
