An analysis of the college football career of Xavier Gaillardetz evokes a word you don’t hear often these days when discussing major college sports.
Loyalty.
Not just to a football team, but to a school. A community. Even (shockingly) an academic major.
You see, Gaillardetz is an anomaly. Not only has the 5th Year receiver spent his entire college tenure at ETSU, but he’s stuck around through three different coaches. The native of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada, received an offer from the Bucs in January of 2022, just a few weeks after George Quarles became head coach. Then, after the 2023 season concluded, Quarles was fired and replaced by Tre Lamb. He spent just one season at ETSU before leaving for Tulsa, with Will Healy taking the job.
Through it all, Gaillardetz stayed.
During an interview with I-81 Sports at the Charlie Browder football camp this summer in Kingsport, he explained why.
“This city’s been good to me,” Gaillardetz said. “When I came here in the first place, it was a city that resembles a little bit my hometown. I like the school, my professors, advisors, just the people here. When the coaches left, for me, it was an opportunity to stay here and to keep working with the program and to be loyal to the place I committed to play college football at.
“Obviously there were considerations every time but I’ve always given the benefit of the doubt to the next man that was coming for the job. To me, I’m very grateful to still be here and I wouldn’t have done it any other way.”
Gaillardetz figures to be a key part of the Bucs’ plans, both on offense and on special teams, where Phil Steele named him in the punt return spot on his All-Southern Conference team. He’s ETSU’s top returning receiver from 2025, even though his totals – six catches for 167 yards – don’t exactly jump off of the page. He also was the primary punt return man, with 101 yards on 11 chances, including an 80-yard touchdown in a victory against VMI.
“Probably the most excited I’ve been for a football season,” Gaillardetz said. “Not just necessarily because it’s the last one but because of the players we have and the expectations that we set this past year. It’s gonna be a really good season.
“It’s just guys that want it,” he said when describing the makeup of the current ETSU roster. “Guys that came from different schools to win: to play and to win and compete. It’s a solid group of guys. Really good people.
“And there’s no ego with this team at all. People come from different school but they come to ETSU and they talk about ETSU. They wear ETSU gear. They talk about the program, the city. It’s a good thing.”
Gaillardetz was no stranger to Tennessee when he signed with ETSU. He played his high school ball at McCallie in Chattanooga.
“It’s very, very, very different,” Gaillardetz said when asked to describe the culture shock of moving from Canada to east Tennessee. “You get here, it’s football country. … The people make the place. I like to say that.”