COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gamecocks wide receiver Xavier Legette has been picked in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, and he won't be traveling far to continue his football career.
Legette was taken with the 32nd overall pick in the draft by the Carolina Panthers Thursday night at the selection event, which is being held this year in Detroit. He's the first Gamecock taken in the first round since Jaycee Horn in 2021, who, coincidentally, was picked by the Panthers.
The high selection continues the rapid ascent for the receiver over the last year. A solid and productive player for the Gamecocks in his first four seasons in Columbia, he exploded in his last year with the team, racking up 71 catches for 1,255 yard and seven touchdowns in 2023. The receiving yards is the second-highest total in South Carolina school history.
Leggette, who grew up in Mullins, averaged 17.7 yards per catch and 104.6 yards per game in 2023. He had six games over 100 yards receiving, four of which equaled 178 yards or more
Over his five years with the team, he had 113 receptions for 1,678 yards and 12 touchdowns, as well as 29 kickoff returns for 767 yards (26.4 yards per return) and one TD.
A year ago, few would have thought Legette would be a contender for a first-round pick. But he always had the physical traits; he just lacked the production to draw attention to his skills. But with his senior stats, a strong showing at the Senior Bowl, and him running a 4.39 40-yard dash at the NFL Draft combine, he turned the heads of many NFL executives.
In recent weeks, several of the mock drafts on the top sports websites were suggesting he could go into the first round, and ultimately those forecast proved right, as he went above such other highly regarded prospects at the receiver position as Adonai Mitchell of Texas and Keon Coleman of Florida State.