Records are made to be broken.
That is exactly what fifth-year senior, wide receiver Xavier Restrepo did Saturday against the coach who recruited him to Coral Gables, Duke’s Manny Diaz.
Restrepo, with his parents in attendance at Hard Rock Stadium, finishes Saturday’s game with eight receptions, 146 yards and three touchdowns. That brings his season to a record-breaking 51 receptions, 856 yards and nine scores.
The Fort Lauderdale native passes the two all-time leaders Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne while overtaking Michael Irvin, who held fourth, earlier this season. With this game, Restrepo’s career totals 182 receptions and 2,573 yards. Irvin and Andre Johnson, another top receiver in Miami history, were present to witness this record-breaking performance.
In addition to breaking the yards record, Restrepo tied Mike Harley for first in Miami Hurricanes history in receptions with 182. This record will almost certainly be broken in any of the coming three games on Miami’s schedule. Whether it’s next Saturday at Georgia Tech, in the last home game versus Wake Forest, or in the icy cold of Syracuse a new record will surely be set.
Pro Football Focus gave Restrepo an 82.7 grade for his historic performance on Saturday. In his 58 snaps, Restrepo was targeted 12 times. This day could have been even more explosive for Restrepo. There were two deep balls Ward threw that Restrepo simply could not bring in. With those catches, Restrepo’s day would have been well over 200 yards with a possible four touchdowns.
“First and foremost I want to give all the glory to the Man above. Without him, nothing is possible,” said Restrepo in his post-game press conference. “Secondly, the group of guys we have on this team are unmatched.”
Restrepo would go on to give credit to everyone but himself, now he finds only his name at the top of the Miami record books.
All stats and data via ESPN and the Miami Hurricanes unless otherwise noted.