Kentucky Derby, GloRilla, hockey games: Xavier Legette is living his best life
Xavier Legette had always wanted to go to the Kentucky Derby.
He’d never been to an NHL game and wanted to see what the fuss was all about.
He’d always wanted to put on a youth football camp, too, giving kids from South Carolina a chance to “get ‘em out there, run around, show them some things throughout the drills” — something Legette as a “little youngin” from small-town Mullins, South Carolina, never got to do.
Throw in a music video with hip-hop star GloRilla, clean-up foot surgery and some minicamp sessions with the Carolina Panthers — and you have Legette’s 2025 offseason in a nutshell.
An offseason where the second-year Carolina Panthers receiver, simply, is living his best life.
“Oh man, it’s been great to me, for real,” Legette told The Observer in a Zoom call Monday as part of a promotional campaign for Lidl U.S., which he began partnering with earlier this summer. “I’ve been doing a lot of things that I probably would never do. I always wanted to go to the Kentucky Derby, but I never knew if I’d be able to go. That hockey: that was my first hockey game. That right there was live.
“Everything I’ve been doing was kind of like a first, for real.”
Here are five bullet points about Legette’s offseason. The next thing on the Panthers’ schedule is training camp; dates have not yet been announced but it typically begins in late July.
Xavier Legette is healthy
When asked about his health, Legette put it simply: “I’m feeling good.” The receiver underwent foot surgery this offseason after experiencing “discomfort” during the season, even though that discomfort didn’t keep him off the field. Legette hinted that his wrist might’ve required surgery during the 2024 season — but that ultimately healed on its own.
“I went eight weeks strong, no problems,” Legette said, referring to the Panthers’ offseason program. “I’m good.”
No ‘Dolla Bill,’ but Kentucky Derby was a great experience
When you’re first acquainted with the Xavier Legette experience, you’re struck by two things. The first, probably, is his southern elocution that makes it sound like he’s perpetually talking through a smile. He credits that charm to his hometown.
The second, though, is that he loves horses. He grew up riding them; his uncle put him on the back of one as a little kid. He owns one now, too, named “Dolla Bill.”
The NFL knew this. So they asked him to be a part of the Kentucky Derby’s promotion, he said. Legette didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“The NFL, they contacted me and said, ‘Hey do you want to be a correspondent?’ You know I had to tell ‘em yeah.”
His first thought — as all ours would be — what am I wearing?
“What did I want to present to them?” he said. “Did I want to keep it country? Or did I just want to go with the suit? I went with the denim on denim, with the hat and the ostrich boots and all that. Yessir.”
He wanted Chunk of Gold to win, for what it’s worth. Flying Mohawk, too, he said.
Debuted his first youth football camp
This was the first year Legette had put on a youth football camp in May. He did so because he’s willing to do “anything to help the kids,” and said he had a lot of fun interacting with them out on the field.
He’d never been to a football camp as a kid, he said.
“And that’s really why I’m big on it as well,” he said. “Because I really didn’t have no one in my area to show me things like this here. To be able to go to camps while I was a little youngin.”
Legette’s evaluation of the WR room
The Panthers’ wide receiver room is pretty crowded at the moment. The Panthers gave Adam Thielen a raise, added two rookies in the draft and signed another proven former Pro Bowler in Hunter Renfrow. Legette offered only praise when evaluating the team’s depth at the position; he called the talent “great” and said he sees a lot of potential in Tetairoa McMillan, the rookie the Panthers drafted with the No. 8 pick in this year’s draft.
“We got a whole lot of great talent in there, man,” Legette said. “We got the folks you just named. Still got Jalen Coker. You got the rookie Kobe (Hudson). You got Jacolbe (George). Man, our receiving room is great.”
He added of McMillan: “We really connected when I first saw him, man. All the rookies. In a way, I feel like we’re all kind of the same. We’re always playing around. We keep coach (Rob) Moore’s head on a swivel. Keeping a smile on his face; keeping the energy high in the room.”
How Legette likes his steak cooked
Legette said he loves partnering with Lidl U.S. — specifically with the Butcher’s Specialty Line — because the company provides nutritious, tasty protein to keep his body fueled and healthy. He also said he always prefers his hamburger to be doused in chili, and that his favorite kind of steak is a Tomahawk steak — cooked well done “always.”
This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
