South Carolina Football: Gamecock in 1st round of top NFL Draft mock

In tonight's start to the NFL Draft, South Carolina football wide receiver Xavier Legette has a chance to be the program's first 1st round wide receiver since Troy Williamson was a top-10 pick of the Minnesota Vikings back in 2005.

If picked in the first 32 picks of the draft, Legette will be the third receiver from the Gamecock program taken in the 1st round of the NFL Draft, joining Williamson and Sterling Sharpe (though, running back/wide receiver combo Alex Hawkins was taken 13th in the '59 draft when only 12 teams were in the league).

Mock drafts have generally placed Legette somewhere at the back end of the 1st round through the top half of the 2nd round. One of the top mock drafts in recent years agrees.

Fox Sports' and NFL Network's Peter Schrager put out his final mock draft just before the draft, and Legette slotted in at the end of the 1st round. He is the 7th wideout taken in Schrager's mock draft, behind Marvin Harrison, Jr., Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze, Xavier Worthy, and AD Mitchell.

In Schrager's projection, the Kansas City Chiefs trade the final pick of the 1st round, and the selection winds up in the hands of the New England Patriots. After the hypothetical trade, Xavier Legette becomes a Patriot in the first year of the post-Bill Belichick era in New England.

Ironically, several other mock drafts have Legette being taken with the same 32nd pick, only by the pick's original owners, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Legette and the other South Carolina football alums hoping to hear their names called in the NFL Draft will learn their fates over the course of a three-day event as the draft begins on Thursday evening (8:00 PM EST), continues on Friday (7:00 PM EST), and then on Saturday (12:00 PM EST). All the draft festivities can be watched on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 and streamed on the ESPN app.