CHARLOTTE — Carolina Panthers receiver Xavier Legette continues to prove why the organization moved up during the NFL Draft to select him in the first round.
Entering Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders, Legette was tied for the most touchdown catches among NFL rookies since week four.
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The Mullins, South Carolina, native caught his second career touchdown against the Falcons, while wearing pink cleats during the “Crucial Catch” game.
The initiative has become an annual event league-wide, with the NFL and American Cancer Society teaming up to fight cancer through early detection and risk reduction.
Legette later revealed the cleats were a tribute to his late mother Anita Reaves-Legette, one of the people inspiring him most.
“I didn’t really know anything about it, I just knew she would be sick,” he said of her battle with breast cancer.
His earliest memories of her fight date back to third grade.
“Some days, she wouldn’t leave the room. Once I really started understanding, I want to say my sixth grade year, she would just have to keep going back to chemo. Once they put her on hospice, that’s when everything started hitting,” he continued.
“They gave my mom 10 days to live, and she lived for like three or four more months.”
Anita Reaves-Legette was 50 years old when she died in 2015.
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“I always think about what would my life be like if she was here,” Xavier Legette asked.
Among his memories of her, Legette said she was often considered a rock for the entire town, not just their family.
“Everybody came to her. We had about three to four families, just in our house.”
His fondest memory, he said, was the sound of her voice from the stands during his football games.
She wouldn’t miss them.
“Being the loudest person out there. I used to make her stay home sometimes or let her come late during the game because she would be too loud,” he said with a smile.
“She’d just be happy for me. And if I mess up, she’s going to let it be known to the whole crowd out there.”
Legette said he’d often share his plans for the future, which included the NFL.
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“I always told her I want to make it to the NFL and get her a big house.”
It’s a process he’s set to begin this month -- instead, remodeling his childhood home.
“I’m going to make it even bigger because our house burned down when I was in third grade, and my mom had to get it all the way remodeled,” he said.
“Now, I just want to add onto it, and do a little more enhancement to it to make it like that dream home that I wanted to do for her.”
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