Wortons catch brings national publicity

UCF wide receiver J.J. Worton's amazing one-handed touchdown grab at Temple was already a fixture of the weekend highlight shows and on Monday the exposure transcended nationally with a mention on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

The play was featured during a brief sports segment towards the end of the broadcast.

"One of the greatest catches ever," Williams said as the clip was being shown. "This is how we catch a pass in our dreams. J.J. Worton, University of Central Florida over Temple. That is how to catch a football with one hand."

NBC Nightly News tops the evening network news broadcasts with an average of 9.2 million viewers.

Earlier in the day, Worton's catch was featured on several ESPN shows, including 'SportsNation,' 'CFB Daily' and 'College Football Live.'

On SportsNation, Worton's "jaw-dropping TD catch" was named the No. 1 highlight from the weekend.

"He didn't cut his fingernails because obviously that is a fingernail catch," host Marcellus Wiley said. "And it's for a touchdown? Paydirt? That's amazing. I see you, big dog."

CFB Daily guest host Anthony Becht, who was part of the UCF-Temple 'American Game of the Week' broadcast crew, named UCF as the most impressive team from the weekend.

During his weekly press conference on Monday, UCF coach George O'Leary said Worton's catch was perhaps the best he's ever seen.

"The catch by J.J. was just an outstanding catch," O'Leary said. "I've been in football a long time and I've seen great catches, but I think the body position, staying in bounds, making the one-handed grab, was just an outstanding catch."

Last Saturday, Worton's catch appeared to be on track to be SportsCenter's top play of the day, but was supplanted by Auburn's 73-yard touchdown reception in the closing minutes to beat Georgia. O'Leary disagreed with that pick.

"The only one that they said was better was the one Auburn had," O'Leary said. "Hell, he was just lucky. That kid (from Georgia) didn't knock the ball down. He tried to intercept and the guy kept running by. He didn't do anything. He just put his hands out and it fell in it. J.J. actually had to make a catch. But I'm happy he's getting that. That's great for UCF too as far as notoriety. That's over with. We've got a tough game (vs. Rutgers) Thursday night. Should be a heck of a ballgame."