Legette Named a Biletnikoff Semifinalist
University of South Carolina senior Xavier Legette is one of 10 receivers named as semifinalists for the 2023 Biletnikoff Award, the Tallahassee Quarterback Club (TQC) Foundation, Inc. announced today.
The Biletnikoff Award annually recognizes the college football season’s outstanding FBS receiver. Any player, regardless of position (wide receiver, tight end, slot back, and running back) who catches a pass is eligible for the award. As such, the Biletnikoff Award recognizes college football’s outstanding receiver, not merely college football’s outstanding wide receiver.
Legette, a 6-3, 227-pounder from Mullins, S.C., ranks second in the SEC and seventh in the country in receiving yards per game at 107.9, fourth in the league and 28th in the nation with 5.9 catches per game, fifth in the conference and 23rd in the land in yards per catch at 18.3 and is third in the SEC and 22nd in the country with 122.9 all-purpose yards per game. With 65 catches for 1,187 yards and seven TDs on the season, he has moved into second place on the school’s all-time list for receiving yards behind only Gamecock great Alshon Jeffery. In addition, he owns six 100-yard receiving games this season, tying Sidney Rice’s 2005 mark for second in the record books behind Jeffery.
The list of semifinalists for the 2023 Biletnikoff Award in alphabetical order includes Brock Bowers (Georgia), Luther Burden III (Missouri), Keon Coleman (Florida State), Troy Franklin (Oregon), Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State), Xavier Legette (South Carolina), Malik Nabers (LSU), Rome Odunze (Washington), Brian Thomas Jr. (LSU) and Malik Washington (Virginia).
The semifinalists, finalists, and award recipient are selected by the highly distinguished Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee, a group of 650 prominent college football journalists, commentators, announcers, Biletnikoff Award winners, and other former receivers. Foundation trustees do not vote and have never voted.
The 2023 Biletnikoff Award winner will be presented the Biletnikoff Award trophy by TQC Foundation Founding Trustee and Chairman Walter Manley II, Fred Biletnikoff, and the 1996 Heisman Trophy winner and national champion Danny Wuerffel, keynote speaker, at the black-tie Biletnikoff Award Banquet & Celebration at the Dunlap Champions Club, at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on Saturday, March 9, 2024.
The name Biletnikoff is synonymous with the term receiver. Fred Biletnikoff, a member of the pro and college football halls of fame, was a consensus All-America receiver at Florida State University and an All-Pro receiver for the Oakland Raiders. He caught 589 passes for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns in his 14-year Raiders career from 1965 through 1978. Fred was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XI.
