After his acrobatic catch last Saturday on a game-winning hail mary, Georgetown senior wide receiver Jimmy Kibble appeared on the late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Oct. 9.
Kibble, who Kimmel declared to be his favorite wide receiver in college football during a segment on the names of college football players, won Georgetown’s homecoming game last weekend against the Morgan State University Bears (2-4) with a hail mary touchdown catch from senior quarterback Dez Thomas II in the final seconds of play to down the Bears 27-24. Kibble has been instrumental to the team’s success this season and was recently named a 2025 National Football Foundation (NFF) William V. Campbell Trophy Semifinalist, awarded based on a combination of leadership, football skill and academic performance.
Kibble’s catch went viral, including making SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day.
Kimmel joked that Kibble was his favorite college player, because of their similar names.
“It’s exciting for me to watch you play because I just imagine the announcers have a cold and it’s me catching those touchdowns,” Kimmel said to Kibble.
Kibble said the week since Homecoming has been intense and filled with praise.
“It’s been pretty hectic,” Kibble told The Hoya. “A lot of different people have been reaching out. I’ve gotten a lot of praise, which I don’t know if it’s being spread well enough cause I think this was really just a team effort.”
“I think giving just me and Dez all the accolades, it misconstrues what it takes to win that game,” Kibble added.
Kibble’s appearance on Kimmel’s show began with a discussion of the similarities between the two’s names; Both obviously share the same first — and almost share the same last — name. Kibble said the resemblance between the two’s names has frequently come up in conversation.
Near the end of Kibble’s appearance, Kimmel jokingly offered Kibble a name, image, and likeness deal to be the talk show host’s representative in college football. Kibble agreed. The “deal” included Kibble wearing a “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” hat and a Guillermo — Kimmel’s television partner — mustache during interviews.
Kibble said he enjoyed appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”.
“It was just very exciting,” Kibble said. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity from him and his team. They were all just fantastic and I really enjoyed being able to spread awareness about Hoya football and Georgetown as a university.”
Kibble leads Georgetown’s receivers with 464 receiving yards this season, having put up his longest catch of the year — 49 yards — against Morgan State. The 2025 team captain now has 2,055 career receiving yards and is ranked fourth in program history. Kibble is also ranked third in the Patriot League in receiving yards this season.
Last month, Kibble was named as one of 180 semifinalists for the 2025 NFF William V. Campbell Trophy, a national award presented each year to a football scholar-athlete in their final year of college eligibility. Kibble, a finance major, was named to the 2024-25 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, leads the team in receiving yards and has consistently ranked highly among receivers in the Patriot League — he held third place in the league last year and fifth place with the longest catch of 95 yards in 2023.
Kibble said that while he hopes his appearance on the show will increase the team’s publicity, he remains focused on the day-to-day.
“I think it will potentially put Hoya football a little more on the map, have a little bit more viewership,” Kibble said. “From an actual football perspective it really means nothing to me in the sense that the main goal is the game every week. The biggest thing in my mind and the team’s mind is who we’re playing that week, how we’re going to win.”
