Kwame Cavil

Cavil was born in Waco, TX in 1979. He played high school football at Waco High School where he played linebacker and safety, earning second team 5A All-State honors at the linebacker position in 1996.^[2]

Cavil played college football at the University of Texas at Austin from 1997 to 1999.

At the start of his freshman year in 1997 he convinced coach John Mackovic to let him try playing wide receiver. Though he had never played the position before, he was impressive enough in practice for the coaches to move him to that position.^[3]

That year he led the team with receiving yards and had his first 100-yard receiving game, collecting 7 receptions for 112 yards against Texas Tech. He and Jamel Thompson set the school record for receptions by a freshman in that game and Cavil had the 3rd most yards by a freshman in a single game at the time. That season he and Thompson set the school record for receptions by a freshman duo with 39.^[4]

In 1998 he and Wane McGarity set the school's single season record for most receptions by a duo with 109 total receptions and most yards with 1,862. He had 51 of those receptions, which was 6th most in school history at the time. He had x 100 yard receiving games including 102 yards against Iowa State, 109 yards against Oklahoma State and 128 yards against UCLA.^[4] At the end of the season he was named 3rd Team All-Big 12.^[5] He helped get the Longhorns to the 1999 Cotton Bowl which they won for the first time since 1982 and where Cavil had 3 catches for 31 yards and a touchdown.^[6]

In 1999 He helped the Longhorns win the Big 12 South and earn a trip to the Cotton Bowl. He had a team-high 90 yards receiving on 5 receptions in the Big 12 Championship game. He set school and Big 12 single-season records for receptions (100) and receiving yards (1,188), with big performances against Iowa State (11 receptions for 109 yards), Texas Tech (10 receptions) and Texas A&M (10 receptions).^[7] His 100 receptions in a season, was the 20th most in NCAA history at the time.^[8] His 11 reception game was the 2nd most in school history at the time, and the 10 reception games were tied for 4th most. Both of his season-long records were broken by Jordan Shipley in 2009 and his Big 12 single-season receptions record was broken by Rashaun Woods of Oklahoma State in 2002.^[9] With Ryan Nunez he broke his own record for most receptions by a duo with 156, which was broken in 2008 by Quan Cosby and Shipley along with the record for most yards by a duo. He set, and still holds, the record for receiving yards in a game by a junior with 180 versus Stanford - that was the 4th most single-game receiving yards by a Longhorn at the time; and a 103 yard game against Kansas State.^[4] At the end of the season he was named an AP 2nd Team All-American and consensus 1st Team All-Big 12.^[5] That season he led the Big 12 with 91.4 receiving yards per game and 7.7 receptions per game.^[10] He was named the team's Outstanding Wide Receiver and Offensive MVP.

Cavil, along with linebacker Jamal Joyner and defensive ends Aaron Humphrey and J.J. Kelly. was suspended from the team prior to the Cotton Bowl, for "violation of team rules."^[11] The nature of the violation was not specified by Brown, Cavil, or the university.

After his junior year was over, he elected to leave the university for the NFL. It is uncertain if Cavil would have been welcomed back to the team for his senior season if he had not left early, but it was reported at the time that Brown says he never tells players what to do if they are considering entering the NFL draft early, implying that it was in fact an early departure for the draft. Cavil himself said "After great deliberation with my family, I have decided to forgo my final year of eligibility and go to the NFL," Cavil subsequently went undrafted.^[12]

When he left, he had the school's 2nd most career receptions with 174, just 3 behind Mike Adams, and 2nd most career receiving yards with 2,279, again behind Adams, despite leaving a year early.

He was the first player ever to leave one of Mack Brown's Texas teams with college eligibility remaining.

After his professional football career, Cavil returned to the University of Texas to complete his studies, earning his bachelor's degree from the College of Education in the Spring of 2010.^[13]