South Carolina football fans have been looking forward to the NFL Combine. The Indianapolis showcase was of interest to the Gamecock Faithful, not just because they wanted to watch their favorite players compete, but also because they wanted to watch Xavier Legette put on a show.
And put on a show he did.
Xavier Legette ran a 4.39 40-yard dash. That sprint was the 3rd-best time of any wide receiver at the NFL Combine. He also put up a 40" vertical leap, a top-5 number at the position. He also had a 10'6" broad jump attempt.
At over 220 pounds, Legette's athletic testing numbers are virtually unprecedented.
According to data from Underdog Fantasy's Hayden Winks, the average weight of players who put up numbers like Legette's is 203 pounds. Legette's Relative Athletic Score was a 9.92 out of 10; in other words, Xavier Legette was among the best receivers ever to test at the NFL Combine.
In his positional drills, Legette looked smooth and comfortable as he ran routes fluidly and caught balls well. His speed translated well to the drills as he was flying on the turf in Lucas Oil Stadium. He also made a couple of acrobatic catches on less-than-perfectly-accurate throws from the quarterbacks who were throwing him the football.
Legette's showing will give some NFL teams something to think about, especially considering some other big-name wideouts did not perform well at the NFL Combine. Florida State's Keon Coleman ran a 4.61 in the 40-yard dash, Brendan Rice (Jerry Rice's son) and Jacob Cowing broad jumped less than 10', and Jacob Cowing and Lideatrick Griffin had vertical jumps of 36" or lower.
After the top-4 projected receivers in this year's NFL Draft (Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze, Malik Nabers, and Brian Thomas Jr.), the next 12 or so receivers in draft projections are somewhat interchangeable. Legette's strong NFL Combine should move him up somewhat when the draft comes around this April.