Justin Stevenson was added Wednesday to the group of players under consideration for the Biletnikoff Award, and North Texas has a convincing reason to put his name forward: the senior receiver has made himself difficult to overlook through seven games. Stevenson has 41 receptions, 662 yards and seven touchdowns for the Mean Green.
The announcement arrived four days after his 209-yard afternoon against Navy. In North Texas’ 49-39 victory over Navy on Saturday, Oct. 24, Stevenson caught eight passes and amassed 209 yards, with two of those receptions ending in the end zone. It was his third consecutive game with multiple receiving touchdowns and his fourth straight game with at least one touchdown catch.
The Navy performance was spectacular. It was also only the loudest part of a broader change in his football life.
The before-and-after numbers are striking without requiring a story about why his earlier opportunities were smaller. Stevenson appeared in five games for Utah in 2025 and recorded no receiving statistics. At Wyoming in 2024, he played in 12 games, started twice and finished with 17 receptions, 204 yards and three touchdowns.
North Texas has given him a much larger role, and he has turned that role into more than three times his Wyoming yardage in seven games.
That production has arrived inside a productive but imperfect team season. The Mean Green are 5-2 and averaging 43.14 points per game. Quarterback Tayven Jackson has thrown for 2,173 yards and 18 touchdowns, while North Texas has 20 passing touchdowns altogether.
Stevenson is not operating as the sole answer to every defensive problem; the passing game has other ingredients. His numbers instead show how thoroughly he has become one of its most dangerous outlets.
The Navy touchdowns explain the appeal in a hurry. At 10:05 of the first quarter, North Texas faced first-and-10 at the Navy 45. Jackson found Stevenson, who made the catch at the Navy 2 and completed a 45-yard touchdown play.
In the third quarter, with North Texas holding first-and-10 from its own 47, Stevenson caught the ball at the Navy 13 and finished a 53-yard touchdown. The scoring plays covered 45 and 53 yards. Stevenson made the first catch at the Navy 2 and the second at the 13, then finished both plays in the end zone.
Yet the quieter sequence tells more about why one afternoon should not carry the entire argument. With 11:21 left in the second quarter, Stevenson caught a 22-yard pass on first-and-10 from the North Texas 22, moving the ball to the North Texas 44. An incompletion followed.
Then Jackson completed a separate 46-yard pass to the Navy 10. Jahiem White gained seven yards before running three yards for the touchdown.
The 22-yard completion left North Texas at its own 44, still on its own side of midfield. It did move the offense 22 yards before the incompletion and the later 46-yard completion supplied the bigger advance.
