• Lemon thrives at creating separation: He ranked in the 87th percentile in separation rate and averaged 3.03 yards per route run in 2024, a mark that placed him in the 89th percentile among FBS wide receivers.

• What sets Lemon apart: Blending high-end athleticism with refined route running and a sharp feel for zone coverage, Lemon stands out in PFF’s stable metrics with a game built to translate smoothly to the NFL.

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Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

Everyone loves skill-position players, and we’re always trying to find the next greats at the college level poised to make waves in the NFL. The 2025 draftees haven’t even taken NFL snaps yet, and we’re already eyeing top prospects for 2026. It’s never too early, after all.

USC’s Makai Lemon, a true junior whose 85.6 PFF receiving grade in 2024 ranked third in the FBS among returning wide receivers, has already grabbed my attention — so much so that he is my early No. 1 wide receiver ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.

First, some background. Lemon was a four-star recruit in the 2023 class and played wide receiver and cornerback at two high schools during his prep career. He transferred to Los Alamitos because of quarterback Malachi Nelson, a five-star in the same recruiting class. Lemon and Nelson grew up playing football together on the same Pop Warner team and even won a Pop Warner national championship together. They were also both committed to Oklahoma when head coach Lincoln Riley was there, but they flipped their commitments to USC when Riley jumped to the West Coast. 

Nelson is no longer at USC, but Lemon remains. He played in nine games as a freshman in 2023, mostly at wide receiver (70 snaps) but also at cornerback (17 snaps). That gave way to 12 appearances and six starts in 2024, and he led the team in PFF receiving grade (85.6) and receiving yards (764) and dropped just one pass on 67 targets.

Makai Lemon’s 2024 PFF Game Grades

At 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, Lemon is on the smaller side. I have him categorized as a slot receiver, not just because he played 354 snaps in the slot compared to just 54 out wide in 2024, but also due to how he wins and his strengths. Lemon is lightning quick. He has short strides but moves his legs like pistons in an engine, firing out of his stance to eat up cushion in coverage or getting vertical before defenders can adjust.

He is also a nuanced and technical route runner, despite being just a true junior entering 2025. He knows how to set up defenders against their leverage and can find soft spots against zone by tempoing his speed at different points in his route. Lemon’s PFF Game Athleticism Score in 2024 ranked just above the 95th percentile, with five plays where he topped 20 mph. But more telling than his top speed is his play speed, evidenced by his 100 plays where he was clocked between 15-20 mph. Despite facing press on only 85 of his 262 receiving snaps in 2024, he already has a good baseline of different releases versus press coverage. And as a run blocker, he is feisty and strong for his body type.

Lemon also fares well in PFF’s stable metrics, which are predictive of success from year to year. In other words, if a player ranks highly in a stable metric in college, they have a strong chance of doing so in the NFL, even with a built-in dip in rate because of the bump in talent. The opposite is true, too.

He placed in the 87th percentile in separation rate (83.6%) and ranked in the 65th percentile in separation rate against single coverage (63.3%) in 2024. His 3.03 yards per route run — a good way to look at per-play production — slotted him into the 89th percentile.

Makai Lemon’s 2024 Stable Metric Ranks

When we think of WR1-caliber prospects in a draft class, big-bodied “X” receivers often come to mind. That’s true for most drafts. But just like in 2023 when Jaxson Smith-Njigba was WR1, there are outliers. The name of the game is getting open, and Lemon does that at a high level and possesses the traits to continue to do so in the NFL.