CHARLOTTE — Saturday afternoon, in the bright sunshine with all his teammates watching, Xavier Legette trudged to the back corner of the field after a grueling two-hour practice.

He had more work to do.

Of course, he's also done this in the dark hallways of Bank of America Stadium, as he did on Monday morning when there were few other veterans in the building since they hadn't reported for training camp yet.

The work was still there to do.

Saturday, Legette joined running back Chuba Hubbard — the patron saint of the Jugs machine around here — for a good 20 minutes of supplemental work after a nearly 100-degree practice, catching passes and leaning on and smacking at each other.

"Yes, sir, yes, sir, man; it helps me with the hand-eye coordination," Legette said. "It kind of created a thought in my mind that is training my eyes. I think it's doing a good job."

Of course, it's not just catching passes. As Hubbard and Tommy Tremble (who's on the physically unable to perform list at the moment) have honed their routine over the years, it's a bit of a dance, with one player doing everything he can to make it difficult for the other, the same way a defender will.

"You see the things that they're doing, we're not just over there catching, we're kind of putting it in game situations," Legette said. "To the point to where we're putting a hand to the face. We're kind of tugging the arms, tugging the shoulders, grabbing the waist, and all that, making it a game-time situation.

"The Jugs machine that helps with that, and I do think that getting on the Jugs machine does make that count (of drops) go from slim to none."

Learning that lesson took time during his rookie season.

He admitted that at a certain point during his rookie year, he got away from what had become a habit at South Carolina.

"Oh man, it's always been something I've done, and I don't know why, but I felt like I could take a little breath," Legette said. "And when you're playing in this game, you can never do that. It's always a way to get better, and that's one of the ways to help with catching. For sure, for sure. In my mind, I'm thinking about ways, things I can do. What can I do to have less drops this coming season in Year 2?

"The whole mindset has changed, man. Trying to do anything I got to. I'm sacrificing a lot of things that I used to do outside of the building to put my work inside the building."

Throughout the offseason, he'd grab a couple of guys from the equipment staff — usually Grayson Sandlin and Mack Whitehurst — who would feed him passes on the indoor turf field around the corner from the locker room.

There, in a lonely corridor, he'd catch balls, over and over and away from cameras or any attention. It was similar to the work he put in last year after the drop in Philadelphia that brought the kind of attention he didn't want. He sought out Hubbard and Tremble after practice the following Wednesday and has been a regular participant in their group ever since.

But Panthers head coach Dave Canales said work ethic was never a concern, and part of the reason they liked him enough to trade up to take him in the first round last season.

"Yeah, I mean X came like that," Canales said. "He, he worked like that from the day he got here, kind of overworked sometimes as a rookie, I thought. And I think he's finding a rhythm that works for him. I know I can feel from him, he's more confident in what we're doing.

"As a rookie, you're kind of like trying to catch your tail, and it just feels like he's got a grasp of what we're doing. He's got a plan for his body. He's got a plan for his extra work and all that, and it's a room that really does that. And they have fun, which is my favorite part about it."

Legette also acknowledged that the receiver group is another motivating factor. Whether it's Adam Thielen or Hunter Renfrow with their experience, or the rest of a young group, including rookie Tetairoa McMillan, there's a constant challenge to keep the level high.

"I think the room is uncomfortable as a whole, man," Legette said. "You got some guys like Adam and Renfrow, man, those guys, they do some great things. The way the talent is in that room right now, I think it's uncomfortable because you have to come with it every day.

"You have to know your assignment and do it at a very high number."

And doing a little extra when the work day is done, or before it starts, doesn't hurt either.