Xavier Legette scouting report: Exploring the South Carolina WR's strengths and weaknesses

One of the top-1000 national recruits in 2019, Xavier Legette was almost a complete unknown through his first four years with the Gamecocks, combining for 42 catches worth 423 yards and five touchdowns. However, he erupted in 2023, when he turned 71 catches into 1,255 yards and seven TDs. He received second-team All-SEC accolades in the process.

Details: 6-foot-1, 220 pounds; RS SR.

Breaking down Xavier Legette scouting report

Releases & route-running:

• Big body, who can really move
• Can throttle down on curl routes better than many other receivers his weight
• You’ll even see him run some whips or return routes, where he can reduce his frame, pivot off the inside foot and efficiently work back inside
• On dig routes and other stuff where’s not just breaking off at a certain depth, his ability to bend and gain speed through those slight changes of direction is excellent
• Is able to avoid traffic on drag routes and you love what he brings on those deep over routes (off play-action), to straighten defenders supposed to trail him across the field before flattening across the field
• Working out of the slot, you see the ability to widen his stem in order to gain inside access against defenders leveraged that way and then snap off curls
• Adds in some nasty rocker-steps before bending to the post when isolated on the perimeter
• Understands how to affect key defenders and run off coverage for his teammates, with the way he stems his routes or can get in the way for opponents to have to work around

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

• Does a great job of timing up and positioning himself for those rebound-like high-point grabs down the field
• There are several passes at the sideline, partially off the initial timing, where he has to go straight up to a spot defenders can’t reach and get his toes down in bounds
• You see the strength to hold onto the ball or kind of wrestle it away when it’s contested
• Has the flexibility to pluck passes arriving below his knees (when going over the middle)
• Only dropped two of 73 catchable passes in 2023 and posted a borderline-elite 3.15 yards per route run
• Slows himself down as he approaches the sideline, to be ready to turn upfield quickly and make

Run after catch & blocking:

• Brings the horse-power to shake off or drag along tacklers for big yardage after the catch – particularly with guys trying to jump on him but sliding off
• The way he can stop his momentum, make defenders break down and then dishes out stiff-arms to get away from them stands out quite a bit – forced 16 missed tackles on 89 catches since the start of 2022
• When he can really stride it out catching balls on the run, he covers ground in a hurry
• There are only so many 220-pound receivers who teams design fly sweeps and similar touches to – in part because he didn’t fumble once across 125 career touches
• Plays up to his size as a blocker, snatching cloth and locking up smaller DBs after erasing the space to them
• Even with safeties barreling down against him working from the slot, Legette is typically able to absorb that force and secure those guys in space
• Quickly turns himself into a blocker on designed leak routes or if he realizes a teammate has caught the ball
• His hard-working mentality is commendable, when you look at how he earned opportunities through his work on special teams, worked on his craft and built up his body

Weaknesses:

• Lacks refinement or diversity in his release package, while not taking full advantage of his size advantage, more so relying on little stutters into speed releases
• Not like a super precise route-runner, who rolls through a lot of cuts when he should make sharper transitions
• Almost everything he does is go vertical or horizontal, where you’re not going to ask him to win with savvy set-ups of the break-point or great change-of-direction
• Some adjustments on passes over the middle of the field don‘t look very natural, although he didn’t drop many last year
• Wasn’t targeted at least 30 times in any of his first four seasons and combined for just over 400 yards combined throughout that time

Xavier Legette's 2024 NFL Draft projection

Xavier Legette at NFL Combine

Xavier Legette was one of the breakout stars of college football last season, stocking up his highlight reel after only seeing 76 targets coming his way through the first four years at South Carolina.

I’m not as worried about the late breakout profile considering the background and personal tragedies he’s had to overcome, losing both his parents, the setbacks recovering from a motorcycle injury and others.

Now I don’t look at him as a very natural separator and while he does present the physical dimensions of an oldschool X-receiver, I don’t look at him lining up there the majority of snaps.

Xavier Legette can be moved across the formation and be a productive weapon for you however, taking advantage of his ability to pluck balls off the top shelf in jumpball situations, the toughness and size going over the middle of the field and then the power to break tackles after the catch.

So you may want to manufacture touches Xavier Legette's way early on to some degree, whilst you refine his ability win off the line and at the top of the route more regularly.

Grade: Late second/Early third round