Makai Lemon Signed USC Trojans Speed Mini Helmet - JSA

Add the signature of the 2025 Biletnikoff Award winner — on the USC canvas of his college career, signed before his first NFL snap with the Philadelphia Eagles — to your collection with this Makai Lemon Autographed USC Trojans Riddell Speed Mini Football Helmet — JSA Authenticated. Lemon signed this Riddell Speed mini directly on the USC shell, delivering his autograph on the college canvas of the player whose 2025 season produced the most credentialed wide receiver campaign in recent USC football history. Lemon won the 2025 Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top wide receiver — becoming only the second Trojan in USC football history to claim the award, after Marqise Lee in 2012 — and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 20th overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23, 2026, becoming the first first-round pick of the 2026 class to sign his rookie deal. Authenticated through James Spence Authentication (JSA) with a numbered JSA sticker and certificate of authenticity verifiable at JSA's official website.

This USC Trojans Riddell Speed Mini Helmet has been hand-signed by Makai Lemon. The autograph has been certified authentic by James Spence Authentication (JSA) with a numbered JSA sticker and certificate of authenticity verifiable at JSA's official website.

Product Highlights

• Hand-signed by Makai Lemon — 2025 Fred Biletnikoff Award winner; 2025 unanimous First-Team All-American; 2025 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year; 2026 NFL Draft first-round pick (20th overall, Philadelphia Eagles)
• USC Trojans Riddell Speed Mini Helmet — half-scale officially licensed collector format with authentic Speed shell shape, official USC cardinal and gold paint and decals
• JSA Authenticated — numbered JSA sticker and certificate of authenticity verifiable at JSA's official website
• 2025 Biletnikoff Award: only the second Trojan in USC football history to win college football's top wide receiver award (after Marqise Lee in 2012); a thirteen-year gap closed
• 2025 production: 79 receptions, 1,156 receiving yards (Power Four leader), 11 receiving TDs; PFF's top-graded wide receiver in college football (90.4 overall grade, 91.3 receiving grade — both nation-leading)
• 2026 NFL Draft: 1st round, 20th overall to the Philadelphia Eagles (April 23, 2026); first-round pick from the 2026 class to sign his rookie contract ($20.8M fully guaranteed, $11.5M signing bonus)
• Backed by our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee

The Biletnikoff Award — Only the Second in USC History

The Fred Biletnikoff Award is given annually to the most outstanding wide receiver in college football, awarded by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation since 1994. Across the thirty-two years the award has been presented, only two USC Trojan wide receivers have won it: Marqise Lee in 2012 and Makai Lemon in 2025 — meaning every collector building a USC wide receiver display can hold autographed Biletnikoff winners by exactly two players, with thirteen seasons of USC football separating Lee's win from Lemon's. Lemon's case for the award was built on production no other college wide receiver matched in 2025: he led the Power Four in receiving yards (1,156) and receiving yards per game (96.3), led the Big Ten in receptions per game (6.6) and yards after catch (502), tied for first nationally with 50 catches resulting in first downs, and finished with the highest PFF wide receiver grade in college football. He recorded only three drops on 175 targets across his final two seasons at USC — a reliability measure that NFL scouts cited as central to his first-round draft case. The Biletnikoff anchors the inscription value of any future inscribed Lemon piece, and anchors the credential value of every plain-signed Lemon piece from his college canvas.

The College Canvas — A Closed Window

Lemon declared for the 2026 NFL Draft on December 17, 2025, and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of that draft on April 23, 2026. That sequence permanently closed his USC playing career: every pre-NFL signing on a USC canvas is now anchored to a college career that is finished, with the body of work fixed at three seasons (2023, 2024, 2025), 137 receptions, 2,008 receiving yards, and 14 receiving touchdowns. For collectors who specifically want pre-pro college pieces of NFL prospects, that closure matters: the supply of authentically pre-NFL Lemon college signings is now in a fixed pool. As his NFL career unfolds with the Eagles — whether modestly or at the All-Pro level his college tape and draft position project — the college canvas becomes the increasingly distinct historical anchor relative to NFL canvas pieces produced after his pro career begins. Most early-career signed inventory of any NFL draftee shifts heavily toward NFL-team canvases within the first few years of their pro career; college canvases of immediate-impact first-round picks tend to become the rarer format relative to the volume of NFL-team signings that follow.

The 2025 Season — A Singular Statistical Year

Lemon's junior season at USC produced one of the most complete wide receiver statistical campaigns in college football. He led the Power Four conferences in receiving yards (1,156), the Big Ten in yards after catch (502), and posted the nation's highest PFF receiving grade (91.3) — a metric that ranked him fourth among all 679 qualified wide receivers in college football for the season. He recorded five 100-plus yard receiving games, exploded for two touchdown receptions and threw a passing touchdown in the same game against Oregon (becoming the first Big Ten player to do so in a game since Minnesota's Eric Decker in 2009), and totaled 13 scrimmage touchdowns across the season. The All-American honors followed: unanimous First-Team All-American by the season's major selectors, Polynesian College Football Player of the Year, and the Biletnikoff Award itself. The season ended with the 20th overall NFL Draft selection — and the Eagles trading up three spots to take him while the Steelers were on the phone trying to do the same.

Heading to the Eagles

The Eagles traded picks 23, 114, and 137 to the Dallas Cowboys to move up to the 20th overall selection on April 23, 2026, taking Lemon ahead of Pittsburgh's pick at 21. He signed his four-year rookie contract on April 30, 2026 — $20,810,383 fully guaranteed with an $11.5 million signing bonus and a fifth-year team option — making him the first first-round pick of the 2026 NFL Draft class to sign. The Eagles enter the 2026 season with a wide receiver corps led by DeVonta Smith, Hollywood Brown (signed in free agency), Dontayvion Wicks (acquired by trade), and Lemon, with reports indicating veteran A.J. Brown is expected to be traded after June 1. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni cited Lemon's "insane ability to catch the ball in contested situations," his ability to "separate in man coverage out of the slot," and his blocking and competitive intensity as the defining traits that drove the trade-up. Lemon's NFL career has not yet begun on the field, but the institutional commitment from the franchise — first-round trade-up, immediate rookie contract signing — frames the trajectory the Eagles expect from their newest receiver.

JSA Authentication

This helmet has been certified authentic by James Spence Authentication (JSA). The autograph includes a numbered JSA sticker and certificate of authenticity verifiable at JSA's official website.

Specifications

Authenticity Guarantee

Every signed piece at GameDay Sports Memorabilia is backed by our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee. If your item is ever determined to be inauthentic, we will replace or refund it — no questions asked.