Xavier Jamar Gipson (born March 8, 2001) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks are composed of 14 teams representing Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in intercollegiate athletics. Stephen F. Austin teams participate in Division I as a member of the Southland Conferen ...

Early life

Gipson grew up in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and attended Woodrow Wilson High School. He was a four-year starter on the football team at cornerback and also began playing wide receiver during his senior season. Gipson initially committed to play

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

as a cornerback. He later flipped his commitment to

Stephen F. Austin State University Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU or SFA) is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas, in the United States. Named after Stephen F. Austin, one of the founders of Texas, SFA was founded as a teachers college in 1923 and built on part ...

(SFA), who recruited him to play on offense.

College career

Gipson played college football for the

for four seasons. He caught 52 passes for 934 yards and seven touchdowns and was named second-team All-

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

during his freshman season. Gipson was named first-team All-Southland after finishing his sophomore season with 52 receptions for 841 yards and nine touchdowns. He was named the Offensive Player of the Year of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC), SFA's new conference, after catching 74 passes for 1,367 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior. Gipson repeated as the WAC Offensive Player of the Year as a senior.

Professional career

The

signed Gipson as an undrafted free agent on May 5, 2023. In his NFL debut, a Week 1 ''

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

'' matchup against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

, he returned a punt 65 yards in overtime to score the game-winning touchdown. The NFL later named him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. In Week 14 against the Texans, he had a rushing touchdown in the 30–6 victory. In the 2023 season, he had 21 receptions for 229 receiving yards, one rushing touchdown, and handled most of the kick and punt return duties. In Week 8 of the 2024 season, Gipson scored his first NFL receiving touchdown against the Patriots.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

References

External links

New York Jets bioStephen F. Austin Lumberjacks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gipson, Xavier Living people Players of American football from Dallas American football wide receivers Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football players New York Jets players 2001 births Woodrow Wilson High School (Dallas) alumni