South Charlotte Today

Xavier Legette was not happy. He walked off the field with purpose from his first training camp practice with the Carolina Panthers, stepping behind the lectern and quickly making it known he was fired up (or as fired up as the soft-spoken and docile Legette can be).

And not in a good way.

The first-round rookie receiver was upset about his performance during the first day of camp, frustrated at his own performance.

"First training camp, it started pretty slow for me. I feel like it wasn't my best, but we got time to continue to make it better," he said before he was asked the first question. "I get upset with myself about things like that, when I feel like I didn't have the best day and didn't leave everything out there on the field."

It should be noted, this message was not coming from coaches but entirely self-evaluation— "this is something I noticed about myself"—from a man who demands more of himself, even if the first day was essentially just shaking off the rust.

His head coach knows there will be a period to reacclimate for the receiver, who not only was sidelined for a portion of OTAs and all of minicamp with a hamstring injury (Legette said he feels back to 100 percent) but is also still a rookie learning a playbook that hasn't even been fully introduced.

So even as Legette looks at what he felt should have been on Wednesday, Dave Canales was looking ahead to what can be.

"He brings a massive receiver, explosive ability," Canales said of Legette after the first camp practice. "He can make things happen on short passes, he can stretch the field and go get it.

"My expectation for Xavier, I'm wide open. I'm wide open to how quickly he can really assimilate himself into this offense and pick it up so that he has just kind of a rhythmic flow for what he's doing…I just want him to get better one day at a time, same message as we just kind of talked about, and I'm open to whatever that looks like."

But for Legette, it wasn't enough because there could have been more.

"I feel like I wasn't really (paying) attention to detail today, so I need to buy in on that for the rest of the practices," Legette added. "I didn't have any (catches) today and really just mainly like getting open a little better than I was, mainly using my hands and that (is the goal)."

The former South Carolina receiver reconnected with another Gamecock success story, 49ers Swiss Army knife Deebo Samuel. The two trained alongside Ricky Pearsall (49ers), Parris Campbell (Eagles), and Isaiah Hodgins (Giants) this summer in California. It wasn't long before Legette was back to not only fighting weight but receiver speed.

A video circulating social media showed Legette and Samuel racing on a treadmill. Asked on Wednesday who won, Legette smirked and answered, "you already know I won."

Topping out at 19.5 mph after being forced to take things easy during the spring proves just how special Legette can be. Him being angry with himself after a day teammates lauded his physicality is a reminder of why the Panthers traded into the first round to grab this guy. Even during a morning that Legette felt wasn't up to his ceiling; his floor was high.

Because in addition to being fast, he's also large—a 6-foot-3, 227-pound presence.

Jaycee Horn, who used to match up against Legette in practice at South Carolina, was reminded of that on Wednesday when they went head-to-head again.

"Yeah, he got me," Horn laughed. "He ran an out route on me; they got me for a PI (pass interference) and I argued with the ref because he's so strong man; when he put his body on you or push or pull you; you really feel it."

"So I was holding on for dear life at one point; then ref got me on PI. But it's always fun going up against X."

While Xavier Legette and Jaycee Horn can have a symbiotic learning relationship on the field—sharpening iron against iron—there are still some things Horn can teach him off-field. Namely: The first day is simply the first day.

"The first day you're usually trying to get your legs back under you; you got so much anxiety because you're hyped," Horn offered advice impassioned by Xavier's excitement." So...first days are usually like that...he'll be fine."