South Carolina Football: Xavier Legette continues to shine, named semifinalist for major award

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Xavier Legette has been one of the best players in all of college football this season. The South Carolina football wide receiver, despite missing almost about a game’s worth of snaps combined between the Missouri and Texas A&M games, is 5th in receiving yards across major college football.

His latest game was a 2-touchdown performance against the Rival Kentucky Wildcats. The two connections between Legette and quarterback Spencer Rattler were the Gamecocks’ only two touchdowns.

Legette’s 1187 yards through 11 games is right on pace with Alshon Jeffery’s record-setting 2010 season, but with Jeffery playing 14 times that season, #17 appears set to post the 2nd-best receiving season in South Carolina football history.

After being completely off the national radar during his first four years on campus in Columbia, XL has taken advantage of his “Covid redshirt” better than any other player in the country. With his extra year, Legette has moved from being a 7th-round pick or undrafted free agent to a potential 1st-rounder, and he has picked up a number of accolades along the way.

The Mullins, South Carolina native has had several national outlets name him as one of the country’s top performers on multiple occasions. The Reese’s Senior Bowl has been particularly high on the South Carolina football star as the collegiate All-Star Game named him a midseason All-American.

Legette was, understandably, left off of all preseason award watch lists, but he was added to the Biletnikoff Award list midway through the season because of his strong play. Fellow Gamecock wideout Juice Wells made the preseason watch list but is not a semifinalist after missing most of the season with an injured foot.

On Monday, it was announced that Xavier Legette was a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award. Given to the nation’s top pass catcher each season, Legette is one of ten players to make the list. Running backs and tight ends are eligible for the list, but only receivers ever have won the award. Georgia tight end Brock Bowers is nominated but unlikely to win.

Legette and Bowers are joined by wide receivers Malik Nabers (LSU), Brian Thomas, Jr. (LSU), Luther Burden III (Missouri), Keon Coleman (Florida State), Troy Franklin (Oregon), Marvin Harrison, Jr. (Ohio State), Rome Adunze (Washington), and Malik Washington (Virginia).

The Biletnikoff Award will have its semifinalists pared down to 3 finalists on November 28th, and the winner will be announced at the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on December 8th.