COLUMBIA — Xavier Legette told everyone this was going to happen. He called this shot 14 months ago, after he caught two touchdowns in a brilliant Gator Bowl performance.
“Really, man, I just wanted to keep that going,” Legette said. “That was a great game for me, that bowl game. I just wanted to put a whole lot more of that together.”
He did, and it delivered him to the NFL.
The South Carolina receiver was selected by Carolina in the first round of the NFL Draft on Friday, the 32nd overall pick and last of the initial night. The Panthers traded up to get him after Kansas City traded the pick to Buffalo, which then traded to Carolina.
He will re-team with Jaycee Horn on the Panthers. Carolina also has former Gamecocks Jadeveon Clowney and D.J. Wonnum on the roster.
The Panthers desired Legette and didn't want to risk waiting for their next selection (No. 33, second round) to try and nab him. Besides getting the ability to offer a fifth-year option after Legette's standard four-year rookie contract, Carolina got a guy they interviewed several times ... and a guy that may have scooped the draft when, on a Panthers podcast earlier this week, said that the Panthers promised to pick him with their first selection.
Carolina traded with Buffalo for pick No. 32 and a sixth-round choice, sending the Bills No. 33 and a fifth-round choice.
"We wanted to take that opportunity to go get our guy," general manager Dan Morgan said. "He was our target, we really liked him and we went and got him."
Last year's No. 32 pick, Pittsburgh's Joey Porter, signed a four-year, $9.6 million contract that included a nearly $4 million signing bonus. Almost $9 million of the deal is guaranteed.
Legette said at his Pro Day that the Panthers sent several representatives to speak to him.
"I'll be right down the road, it'll be a little easier for my family to come watch me play, so that'll be great," he said. "A lot of coaches came and hollered at me before and after this process here. A lot of them said they got a buzz in their facility for me."
The Panthers weren't just talking. And after a 2-15 season where they fired their coach midseason, Carolina can offer Legette a chance to play and produce right away.
"We loved him. I’m not going to sit here and lie about that, for sure," first-year coach Dave Canales said. "This whole process has been about, ‘Let’s get guys, not just great football players, but guys that really are us, that are Panthers.’"
Legette's quarterback will be Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick a year ago. Bereft of talent around him, Young completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 179.8 yards per game, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2023. The Panthers turfed first-year coach Frank Reich after a 1-10 start, then had special teams coach Chris Tabor take over.
Former USC assistant coach Thomas Brown helped with play-calling for the final six games.
Canales was hired after spending last year as Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator. He was impressed with Legette's versatility.
"When you get a guy that can really run, a guy that can high-point a ball, a guy that can carry it ... with that being said, he’s got a long way to go. He’s got to learn our stuff," Canales said. "I’m really excited to bring his talents to our offense, but at the same time, too, I think he knows he’s got a lot of work in front of him."
Morgan, a former Panthers linebacker, agreed.
"We love Xavier, everything he brought, not only as a person but as a player. His ability to attack the ball when it’s in the air, his ability to run with it after the catch," Morgan said. "He’s big, he’s strong, he’s physical. We think he has a lot of upside."
Legette used that Gator Bowl performance — seven catches for 78 yards and two scores — as a springboard into his final collegiate season, where he turned USC and the SEC on its collective ears.
A career that in four years had only spawned 42 catches for 423 yards and five touchdowns was dwarfed by a stupendous fifth season, where he caught 71 passes for 1,255 yards and seven TDs. It was the second-highest single-season receiving mark in program history, behind only Alshon Jeffery’s 1,517 in 2010.
He was second-team All-SEC, a third-team All-American and became the go-to target of quarterback Spencer Rattler, himself an NFL prospect that will hear his name called this weekend.
Legette didn’t stop there, running a 4.29 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and bench-pressing 225 pounds 24 times, drawing comparisons to Seattle receiver DK Metcalf, considered a freakish blend of muscular speed when he was a draftee. Legette also won over scouts and potential fans in his interviews, the words sliding from his mouth in a drawl that represents his Mullins hometown.
He is the 16th first-round draft pick in USC history and the first since Horn in 2021. The Gamecocks have had seven first-rounders since 2012 and 11 since 2000.
Ten of USC's first-rounders played their high-school ball in South Carolina.
Legette is also the fifth USC receiver drafted in the last six years and ninth in the past 12. The Gamecocks have had a player selected in 22 of the last 23 drafts.
The draft continues at 7 p.m. on Friday and will include rounds 2-3. Rattler could hear his name called then.
