CHARLOTTE —The Carolina Panthers seven-man rookie draft class has experienced a whirlwind over the past month. Since NFL draft weekend, rookies have moved to Charlotte, gone through rookie minicamp and OTAs, mandatory minicamp, and have now returned to the Queen City for training camp.

As the rookie draft class works through their first offseason, each will take time to reflect on their journey to this point and their time in the league thus far. Three rookies took us along through OTAs and mandatory minicamp, and now the rest of the class will take us along through training camp.

Last up is receiver Xavier Legette. The South Carolina product was the Panthers lone first-round pick (No. 32 overall) and one the club traded into the first round to draft. The Panthers traded with the Buffalo Bills to draft Legette with the final pick of the first night.

"Draft night, I had all my close immediate family there with me and some of my close partners at the house with me. Just patiently waiting for my name to get called. I knew it was coming, I just didn't know when. And then when (general manager) Dan Morgan called me and asked how I feel about them trading up, I told my folks, we all were happy to see it.

"Really and truly, I didn't know I was going to be a Panther. My agent, he was telling me my range was 20 through Friday. And I knew the Panthers was in between that range and a couple other teams was in between that range as well. When I saw it was the Bills, and then it was a little bit of waiting time. I think it was like eight minutes. And then between those eight minutes, they called me and was like how do I feel about them trading up for me."

One of the main reasons the Panthers wanted to trade into the first round for Legette, was to give the club a fifth-round option on the promising young receiver. Being a first-round receiver also means a more lucrative contract for the rookie.

"The money don't faze me. I'm just really excited and blessed to be in the NFL because I'm really like the first of many coming from where I come from to be able to be in this position and this is all I ever wanted to do since I've been a little boy. So really and truly, I'm just excited to be in the league."

Legette was on-hand for rookie minicamp, OTAs and every other part of the offseason. The mere two-hour drive from his hometown of Mullins wasn't the only adjustment made easier by coming from South Carolina. The playbook was also easier to digest after spending time in Dowell Loggains offense with the Gamecocks.

"The adjustment, it was kind of fast at first but playing in this playbook, it's the same playbook I had at college. So I'm really familiar with the concepts and everything that we've been putting in. It's the same concept. The verbiage is just different, like the name of the plays and there's way more detail like how we run certain routes, some of the routes in this offense than how we would in college.

"Some of our routes, they're based off steps and not depth. So if you take a step shorter or a step too far, you'll bust the whole play up.

"I wouldn't necessarily say it was a big jump (when the veterans returned), but it was good for me because I was able to see how those guys, Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen, were moving. And they both move different. But to be able to try to implement things that they do in their game into my game, ways of trying to get open."

Every rookie has one "Welcome to the NFL" moment. Legette doesn't know if he's experienced his yet, although he had a couple of reality checks. Since entering the NFL though, his personality and accent have captivated fans of Carolina and the NFL, something he admits is still hard to grasp.

"It hasn't hit yet. But every time when we had the fans come here, they just tell me how they like my accent and all that. I mean, that's what we do it for, who we do it for, the fans. We got to keep them excited so they can help us with the energy, bring the energy on game day.

"My welcome to the NFL moment, I really don't think I had it yet. I'm guessing I need to play in the game first, but I don't think I really had a welcome to the NFL. I thought it was going to be (when my first paycheck hit), but the IRS took most of that."