Makai Lemon got another chance Thursday to demonstrate his skills for NFL scouts.
About 50 of them โ representatives from each of the 32 teams โ gathered at USC to spend a few hours evaluating the schoolโs latest class of draft prospects. Lemon, who won the Biletnikoff Award last fall as college footballโs top receiver, had everyoneโs attention.
โRunning good routes, catching the ball, running fast,โ he said of his objectives for the day. โWhatever I showcase, let them know I can do it at a high level.โ
It was a more comfortable setting than Indianapolis. At the scouting combine, Lemonโs performance at the podium drew scrutiny โ not for anything he said, but for how he said it. He swayed. He was measured, unhurried, visibly unbothered. Some read it as detached. Others saw something else entirely.
โWe donโt want a guy whoโs phony and coached up,โ said one team executive, speaking on condition of anonymity. โWe want a guy to be his authentic self. As long as heโs not a jerk, we love it.โ
Rams general manager Les Snead, who attended Thursdayโs workout of 17 USC players, put it another way. โAt the combine youโre usually getting some version of a personality,โ he said. โA lot of times itโs, โThis is my interview personality,โ and thatโs not necessarily who they are 365 days a year.โ
USC receiver Makai Lemon catches pass during a drill at the NFL combine in Indianapolis last month.
(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
The other USC prospects who participated in Thursdayโs workouts were receivers JaโKobi Lane, Jaden Richardson and Jay Fair; running back Eli Sanders; tight end Lake McRee; offensive linemen JโOnre Reed and DJ Wingfield; defensive linemen Anthony Lucas and Keeshawn Silver; linebacker Eric Gentry; cornerbacks DJ Harvey and DeCarlos Nicholson; safeties Bishop Fitzgerald and Kamari Ramsey; punter Sam Johnson; and long snapper Hank Pepper.
Former Trojan linebacker Mason Cobb, who was on the team in 2024, also participated.
Lemonโs credentials are not in dispute. He finished last season with 79 catches for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. At 5-foot-11 and 192 pounds heโs not big for the position, and according to a school release ran the 40 in 4.46 seconds, which is fast but not blistering. But those arenโt his main strengths.
โOne of the underrated aspects when youโre watching wide receivers is toughness, and he kind of oozes toughness,โ said Daniel Jeremiah, lead draft analyst for NFL Network. โHe catches everything. Heโs super strong physically and super strong to the ball.โ
The technical detail that stands out for Jeremiah: Lemon doesnโt leave his feet to catch unless he has to. He stays grounded, keeps himself in position to do something after the ball arrives. Receivers who lunge and cradle in the air have nowhere to go. Receivers who catch with their feet under them turn completions into more yards.
โHeโs got a really good feel for the game,โ Jeremiah said. โI think heโs going to be a high-volume guy. I think heโll catch 90-plus balls every year and be the quarterbackโs best friend.โ
Snead, who has a history of finding productive receivers that others miss โ among them Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua โ is skeptical of the 40 as a measuring stick.
โYou rarely see a route in football where the receiver runs straight for 40 yards and then makes his break,โ he said. โEven on a go route youโre usually trying to get an edge on the defender, so youโre not running straight. The 40 might tell you how many gears you have in your body. But sometimes you need to run a route in third gear and then shift into fourth or fifth, or decelerate.โ
Jeremiah ranks Lemon among the two best receivers in this draft, giving a slight edge to Ohio Stateโs Carnell Tate, who projects as more of a down-the-field, big-play threat. Comparisons to Detroitโs Amon-Ra St. Brown (also a former USC player) and Tampa Bayโs Emeka Egbuka have circulated. Jeremiah sees those, but also reaches back to Jarvis Landry, the former Louisiana State standout who made five Pro Bowl appearances.
โI actually think Lemon is a better player than Jarvis Landry coming out,โ Jeremiah said. โWhen youโre instinctive, youโre tough and you catch everything, thatโs a pretty high floor. Absolute worst case, youโre going to have a steady, dependable, reliable player.โ
Watching from the sideline Thursday was Marqise Lee, who won the Biletnikoff in 2012 โ the only other USC player to do so โ and was a second-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014. He has spent much of the past several months as a mentor to Lemon, and when the combine criticism arrived Lee wasnโt surprised by any of it.
โMy biggest thing to him was just enjoy it,โ Lee said. โI know he got a lot of backlash about the media stuff and things like that, but when you know the guy, heโs not a big talker. Heโs calm, heโs all about business.โ
Lee believes Lemon has the skills to thrive at the next level, but knows how much context matters once a player gets there.
โThe league is different until you actually get there and get the opportunity to practice and go through it,โ Lee said. โSome people have a hard time adapting. Once he gets on a team Iโll be texting him: โHowโs the comfort level? Howโs the offense?โ Because that stuff matters. Offensive coordinator, people loving you โ all that matters.โ
Lemon, for his part, already sounds like someone who has thought about this.
โI want to go in there and be myself,โ he said. โDonโt want to try to be anybody else.โ