Devy Digest: Xavier Legette

Andy Pham

Who is Xavier Legette?

Legette was a 4* in the composites and was the 3rd ranked prospect in the state of South Carolina. Legette attended Mullins High where he was a dual sport athlete as he played basketball and baseball. On the Football field Legette played Wide Receiver, Running back and as a Senior was the team’s Quarterback where he threw for nearly 900 yards with 14 touchdowns and ran for over 1,800 yards and an additional 19 touchdowns and was labeled an athlete on the recruiting trail. He was widely favored to attend South Carolina early on in the recruiting process. As a true Freshman in 2019, he was buried behind the depth chart at the position and leading the way were Bryan Edwards and Shi Smith. South Carolina still wanted to get him on the field and was able to make a decent impact as an occasional rotation receiver, compiling a stat line of 9-80-1 and being their kickoff return man. Legette built upon that Freshman season and was named a starting wide receiver in 2020(COVID shortened season), where he started the first 6 games, before missing the rest of the season due to a hamstring injury. During that offseason, he was hampered by injuries and slow to make his way back, he was interviewed during fall camp that year and he stated he was still making his way back from an offseason procedural surgery and he was slow to begin the season. Legette started to make strides until an automobile(scooter) accident during the season caused him to miss some time. In that offseason of 2022, South Carolina grabbed Spencer Rattler and Juice Wells out of the portal and would make changes to the offense. Legette would have to find his way in a new scheme with new playmakers around him. In that 2022 season, he would struggle to find his footing early but would be an impact player in the return game with a 100 yard kickoff return for touchdown and averaged over 29 yards per return. Legette hit his best stride in the bowl game that year where he went 7-78-2, in exit interviews with coaching staff, he made a promise to build off of that. He ended up being active in group chats with coaches and teammates and would not miss a single offseason workout. Things were finally clicking for Legette and he spent some time that offseason working with Deebo Samuel, where they trained together and Legette was able to pick Deebo’s mind and learn how to utilize his body and play bully ball. We have seen that transfer in the afternoons this season and with Juice Wells being out for majority of the season, Legette has transformed into an alpha wide receiver and has fully earned Spencer Rattler’s trust and the two have been simpatico.

Athletic Comparison tool courtesy of Campus 2 Canton

Rest of Season Outlook

Legette has been an absolute stud and has blossomed into the leader receiver and playmaker for the team. South Carolina has not been able to run the ball with much success and their defense has been porous at best. Spencer Rattler will be asked to keep them in games and that will create more opportunities for Legette to continue to show out and shine in his final few games in his collegiate career.

Strengths

Legette has the size, physicality and speed that will accel at the next level. He has been clocked at 22.3mph in game and his new bully ball style has caused issues for corners to defend him. At a measured 6’3” 227lbs with 22.3mph in game speed, his play reminds me of DK Metcalf, also due to the injuries and lack of production. Legette has excellent play strength,  high points the ball and has great hand strength to pluck the ball out of mid air with defenders near the ball. As a returner, Legette also brings with him speed and agility, this unique set of skills is something the NFL will salivate over.

Improvements/Concern

Legette is a 5th year Senior with 1 year of production and a slew of injuries on his resume. The Analytic community will not like him and tell you to avoid. I’ve outlined the reasons for this. A lot of times this type of profile is someone you stay away from but with Legette, I do believe you have to peel the layers back and take this as an outlier and sometimes you just have to take a chance on a guy. He’s been through injuries, coaching changes and injuries that cannot be denied but what also needs to be considered is Legette learning from Deebo this offseason has made him a different receiver than previous years. His play style and physicality is something that has changed, but he does have a profile that most will stay away from. He does, at times, have an inability to separate, which causes him to have to go for contested catches, he has the hand and play strength to win at that, but it is something to take note.

Devy Value

The buy window has past, but if you listed to the Dynasty Pros devy show, we told you to buy him and put the spotlight on him before any other devy analyst out there, at that time, you could have bought him for pennies on the dollar and in a lot of C2C leagues was available on waivers. If you have shares of him and don’t need his CFF production and are set at wide receiver, you should field offers and see what you can get from him. Again, you more than likely picked him up off of waivers, to be able to transform that into an early supplemental pick or to get a devy asset with years remaining on CFF side along with a plus option, you would be profiting tenfold.

NFL Outlook

With his measurables, and his profile(aside from being in college for 5 years) reminds us of DK Metcalf, once he tests at the combine, I expect a meteoric draft rise similar to what we saw this past year with Michael Wilson and Jonathan Mingo. I do see day two draft capital and his game translates to the next level.