October 10, 2025 • 16 mins
Celebrate 30 seasons of Carolina Panthers football with Jim Szoke. Join him as he sits down with the key figures who shaped the past 30 seasons, reminiscing on the moments that made Panther's history. This week's guest is former Panthers defensive back, Captain Munnerlyn.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Captain Munerland played not once, but twice two different stints
with the Panthers. He has five pick sixes in his
five year career with the Carolina Panthers overall, a team record,
of course. Played at the University of South Carolina. Now
a high school football coach here in Charlotte, we'll check
in with Captain Munterland today.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thirty Seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Captain Munerland loved the Panthers so much he played here
not once, but two stints with the Carolina Panthers twenty
nine through thirteen, twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen. So the
kind of the base point of this podcast is Super
Bowl fifty season twenty fifteen, which lands in between when
you were Viking, but you were part of that ascent
going into that and then you came back after that
(00:51):
as well. So these are your brothers you fought with
and Charlotte is home for you, and we want to
have Captain Munerland on because well, not only a great
football player, but a great interview.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
We value that.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So we valued the interviews because you guys were so thoughtful,
whether it be winning or losing, how you guys came
out and that's kind of a fun place to start
because you think about your career and how many years
you played in this league, double figure years. I mean,
that's to do those kind of things, to be in
the moment after a game. It's easy after a big win,
but after a loss, it's five it's ten minutes. The
(01:22):
coach has maybe said a few words to you guys.
That'd be hard because it's like you guys. The fans
take it so hard, broadcasters nitpick it all, but you
guys live and breathe it and physically, I mean, you
delve your whole life. You leave your wife and kids
to go there all day to be you know, working
and out in the heat and preparing for this. It's
gotta be devastating when things don't.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Go your way.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Oh yeah, it's definitely is, especially when you had like
a heart fault game and you might be the part
of the reason why you lost the game, and to
have the that happened and you have to talk to
the media after, it's tough. It's definitely tough. I'm a
guy who always owned up today his mistakes. I never
wanted to not talk to the media and get a
(02:02):
guy's insight on what happened in the game and different
things like that. So it was tough. But at the
same time I went traded for the world, man, I
wanted to get them the insight and you know, let
him know what happened, you know, even though sometimes I
was on the wrong side, you know of it. So
that part was definitely tough, But at the same time,
it wasn't changing for the world. I kind of like
kind of missed those things. You know, you missed those
(02:23):
things when you're done and retired. You kind of missed
talking to the media, you know, being in the locker
room with your brothers, and like you said, man, it's
something that was built around here that was very special.
You know. I wasn't part of the twenty fifteen season
when they made the run to the Super Bowl, but
I remember in twenty thirteen when we started out one
in three and we went on a roll and Coach
(02:46):
rivera right then and there. I think he ended up
going in and Coach of the Year that year. Luke
Keigley was a Defensive Player of the Year that year
and it was a lot of different things that change
the makeup of this organization. You know, we was back
on top and to leave in free agency, it was tough.
It was tough. I remember being in Minnesota man, being
(03:07):
in Rick Spearman office and I had to sit there
and look at my phone. Coach Rivera was calling me.
I had to act like a kid that was in school.
I raised my hand say hey, can I go use
the restaurant right fast. I was one of those guys
because I didn't want to be disrespectful in answer the
phone right then. So I like, I had to use
the restaurant rich. I didn't, but I wanted to answer
the phone for Coach Rivera and Sean McDermott before I
(03:27):
signed in my contract. You know, they was telling me,
you know, a cap, we want you to hold off
a little bit long as you can. It hurt. I
didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave because
I knew this place was going to be very special.
And fast forward a couple of years later, they make
it to the Super Bowl and I actually went out
there to San Franz to watch those guys play because
those my teammates. I wanted them to win, so bad, man,
(03:50):
Just for the guys like Thomas Davis, Royan Khalil, you know,
the Charles Johnson's, the Cam Newton's, the Luke Keithley's, all
those guys that I put in to work with. I
wanted to see those guys successful, and you know, they
fell a little short, and I was kind of bid
of about it because I wanted them to win. I
wanted them to win. And I remember playing coming to
the playoff games. I actually said in Charles justin box
(04:13):
doing the playoff games when they played against Arizona, and
I was sitting there like man, and I went after
the game, those guys were celebrating. I was talking to
Charles and I was sitting there like, man. I was like,
you know, y'all going to the super Bowl, and you
know the only thing y'all missing is me. He said, yeah, Cap,
but we went fifteen to one with out you, and
I was like, yo, but you know it was just
all U. I got sixteen to know with you then
(04:35):
you can only throw that backup. So man, just to
see those guys have success, man, I was happy for him.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
When John Beason says the same thing, he was at
the Super Bowl and you probably saw him there sitting,
he said, with Thomas Davis's wife, and he was sitting
in that part of the stadium that day. It's kind
of a similar story because you guys had a similar
timeline where you're both Twenty thirteen was the jumping off
point to your next team. You go to Minnesota for
three years. You come back to the Panthers, though, but
you had you started with the John Fox era and
then you had the Ryn Rivera era. So you really
(05:02):
did hit kind of the sweet spot of the Panthers'
success as far as maybe not the particular years exactly,
but really got a nice swath of working under two
really good coaches.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Yeah, really two great coaches. We was just talking about
a couple of guys were just talking about how when
I first came into the league in two thousand and nine,
having Jonas Fox as a head coach, probably one of
the toughest coaches I've ever been around when it came
to hard nose football. I remember calling my mom after
my first training camp practice and it was like, ooh my,
I don't know if I'm built for this because coach
(05:33):
Fox was so grind, grind, grind, w's full path first day.
You know, now it's rules you can't with the new
CBA and things like that. With Coach Fox, this first day,
full pass, live goal line, it's like, yo, we want
to see who really want to be out here? And
I remember going and I got to tackle D'angela Williams
and you know, Johnathan Stewart and I'm sitting at twenty
one years old, like whoa, and it's live. I gotta
(05:53):
take them to the ground, you know. And you stopped
taking people to the grounds back in high school? You know,
do that now? No in college just thud up, tag off.
But Coach Fox was live and I was sitting there like, mom,
I don't know like this NFL. I got grown men
out here, Julius Pepper, Steven Smith, you know, I got
Treval Warden, who was like a big brother to me,
(06:15):
South Carolina connection, and I was like this is different,
you know. Then the fast forward then you know, Coach
Fox go on to a different team and we get
Coach Rivera. That's when the CBA started to change a
little bit. You couldn't have two of days. One of
them had to be a walk through, and then you
have practice and it's kind of changed, the makeup kind
of change, and we had to buy into a whole
another system. I even had to learn a whole nother
(06:37):
I had to learn a whole nother position because with
Coach Fox, I was a corner. With Coach Rivera, he
taught to me being a nickel. And I'm sitting there like, man,
nichols don't get paid, they don't look at me the same, like, no,
I'm not a nickel. You know. I know I'm a
smaller guy, but I'm not a nickelback. But Coach Rivera
told me. He set me down. You know, he coached
guys like Ricky Manny when he was in Chicago, he
(06:58):
coached other great nickels, and he was letting me know,
like Cap, you can make a lot of money playing nickel.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You can really kind of evolve since when you started
at that position to where it is now.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
You can be the best nickel in the league. He's like,
I believe that. I really truly believe that. And I
always know Joe will like you brainwashed me because then
when I got a little older, all I wanted to
do was play nickel. I was like, man, I can
fund with these guys to Thomas Davis and Luke Keigley
and I can look good. Sign me up, you know,
sign me up. So I had two great coaches, you know,
who really taught me how to how to play the
(07:30):
game the correct way. And I had great teammates who
really showed me how to be a pro.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Being five to nine was it something two things? One,
how did you make up for that in other ways?
And secondly, did it give you added incentive because people
are taking you lately because you sure approved it being
in the NFL for as long.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
As you were. Yeah, I think the incentive of being
being five nine was I was already low to the ground.
So when I played bigger guys, like when I played
the guys like Julio Jones and the Vincent Jackson you know,
Rest in Peace guys like that, it was easy for
me to get underneath those guys, you know, and my
(08:08):
feet so happened to move better than those guys because
I'm you know, I'm quicker than them. I could get
in out of cuts. It's not better than those guys
and me having that low gravity to the ground. I
got underneath those guys.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And something that they're probably not used to something of
a mismatch they're not used to.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah. Yes, And the only thing I was challenged with
was vertically. If the ball up in the air, I
knew I was in trust. Jump hard, Yes, jump, I
was gonna be hard, just physically. I can't jump with
those guys who's six one and sixty two, who got
forty inch verticals, and I'm sitting at five down who
can jump thirty eight to forty. But it's just don't match.
It's just don't match. So my cue was, I had
to win at the line of scrimmage. Let me get
(08:44):
the quarterback off this route right here and let those
guys hunt up there, the Greg Hardy's, the Charles Johnson's,
you know, the Jewelius Pepper. Let those guys hunt. So
if I win at the line of scrimmage, I don't
have to worry about the jump ball. So that's what
helped me in the NFL, you know, and Steve Wilks,
he taught me a lot of great things to how
to play the bigger guys. You know. It always playing
(09:04):
a bigger guy. It could never be ball them than
me because they just put me on the back and
they just like a treated like a rebound. It always
had to be ball me than them. So I had
to play in between, try to get my hands on
the ball because if not, those guys just gonna box
me out, you know. And I physically couldn't stop those guys.
You know, That's just something I couldn't do. So Will
(09:26):
showed me that technique and you know the rest of
his history. Man, to play double digits in the NFL.
It's tough. It's tough. And I was with the old
CBA for some years in the new CBA, and I
always joke with some of the younger guys now say, Man,
if I had this CBI played twenty years, you know,
it is tough. It is tough, man, and I just
just thanks. Thanks. I think a lot of people, you know,
(09:47):
forgive me there.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Man.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
It helped me to sustain my career and to be
the pro that I became.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
You hold one of the I think not talked about
enough most underrated records in Panthers. You're nod in your head.
You had five pick sixes in five years with the Panthers. Yes,
not interceptions, five pick sixers, Yes, in five years. Talk
about that mentality of scoring after you're making it because
all of a sudden, you try to make a player
tried to defend. Then you have to catch the ball,
(10:15):
make the interception. Now you're going to take it back
the other way for points. I mean, that's that's not
something that very many players can can put together the
way you.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Did, oh man. I think it was just the mentality
that I had of being a punt returner, you know,
starting my career off as a punt returner, having the
punt return ability in college and even in high school.
And I think what form that was. Just having coaches
and guys when we always picked the ball off at practice, score,
(10:42):
the mentality was always score, Let's change it, let's hear
the near side line and let's go score. Let's put
points on the board for the offense. And asked, I
did that so much in practice. I just got used
to it. I just got used to it. And then
when I noticed I was right at the record, I
was like, I'm getting it. I knew it. I wanted
it bad, you know, I wanted it bad. I was like,
I want my name to be in a panther.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So you have to almost think it before you can
accomplish that.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yes, And I was thinking like yo, I remember, I
remember the game that happened playing the New York Jets,
and I was sitting there like, yo, if I kiss
this interception, they're gonna throw the ball. They now, if
I kiss this interception, I gotta go to the house.
I had a mentality that I gotta go score. And
I think that, like I said, that was my ability
of being a punt returner and me just doing it
over and over again at practice.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You have already alluded to something at the great coaches
you had, and now you are a coach yourself. Be
your first year as a head coaches right now at
Chambers High School this season after two years as an
assistant coach at Myers Park. What what do you draw
upon from whether it's a pee week coach, your NFL
coaches who kind of resonates with you as you become
(11:49):
your own version of a head coach and Captain.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Manland, I had to go with my high school coach
and Steve Wilkes. I kind of mix those two guys
together and now you get me.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I don't know coach a big Steve Wolks fan, So
I know that.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
They always say great coaches steer from other coaches, So
I kind of stole they kind of swag and put
it into being me. My great musical at my high
school coach man, he was a wonderful man man. He
was a coach that pushed me each and every day.
That installed disciplined in me. And that's what I'm doing
(12:26):
at Chambers when it was coming to win the right gear,
you know, instead of being me being different than my
teammates if they had on blue socks, I was the
guy who wanted to wear yellow socks. Our colors were
blue and gold, so I might wear gold socks that day.
And he was like, nah, you're not starting from me today,
Like look at your teammates. We don't need nobody to
(12:48):
stand out. Let's just have great football players. So he
put that in me, And now I'm doing that at Chambers,
Like I want everybody to look alike, you know, we
hit the weight room, I want everybody to have on
Chambers gear. I don't need you on a red shirt,
and all colors are blue and orange, you know. So
I'm trying to install that. And then with Steve wilks Man,
it was just the ex's and o's. He taught me
(13:09):
a lot man when I say a lot about the game,
a lot about the game, how to watch film, you know,
how to break down a receiver, how to do all
these different things. Being a smaller guy, you know, how
can I make my game better? You know? I used
to get with Steve Wilks all the time just to
see how can I make my game better? And he
taught me a lot. And now I'm just putting it
all together, and I'm teaching the youth, and I'm teaching
(13:31):
these guys man how to get to the next level. No,
it's hard on our kids. It's hard on our high
school kids right now with the transfer portal. Because if
I can go get a twenty one year old, and
I'm at the University of South Carolina, and I can
go get a twenty one year old, and I got
a high school kid who's coming out of high school
seventeen eighteen, I'm gonna go get the twenty one year
old kid who already been in college, who already know
(13:51):
the ropes of going to class, who already know the
ropes of getting up for five thirty in the morning
work out. And if I'm an pay a kid with
the nil deal, I'm gonna pay that kid. Our high
school babies are hurting now because of that. You know,
we all wanted them to get paid. We all wanted,
you know, everybody with the nil's deal, then a transfer reporter.
You can go wherever you want to go. But it's
killing our high school kids. It's killing us. And I
(14:13):
tell my parents. I had a parent meeting with the
parents of my team, and I told them, like, listen,
I know a lot of people want to go big.
They want to go big Division one. They want to
go to South Carolina, they want to go to Georgia,
they want to go to all these places. But they're
not gonna be able to do that right now. They're
not gonna be able to do that because the college
coaches are not looking for those younger guys unless you
(14:35):
just a guy. You really have to be a guy.
And if you're not a guy, it's gonna be tough
on you.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Domino effect everything happens.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Yes, and you're gonna have to work your way up
the ladder. And they got all these Juco rules that's
coming out now where you can go Juco for two
years and still have four years of eligibility to still
play at a big level. So I'll encourage some of
my guys, like, listen, it might not be Alabama orange
of South Carolina right now. You know, if you have
to go to Juco route to make your way up
(15:04):
and do.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
So, get some good tape real quick before we let
you go. Because you wore that garnet in black at
South Carolina Chambers. I know you cooped about this on
the day they announced you primary color orange very similar
to Clemson. Has that has it grown on you? Have
you adopted it as being the Chambers orange and not
thinking about the College orange.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I have definitely adopted being the Chambers orange and blue,
not the Clemson And the craziest thing it gives you
say that, so Clempson donated, Oh my god, Clempson donated
a practice fans to Chambers. Okay, so I have to
see those practice fans every time we step on the field.
So when I see that, Paul, I'd be like, oh
my god, like, how did I get stuck in this?
(15:47):
So I definitely had to see it. But man, it's
all fun and games. Man. I'm just excited, man, just
to have the opportunity to impact it.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Captain great to catch up with the best of like
a Chambers, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thirty seasons of Panther football
Captain Munerland played not once, but twice two different stints
with the Panthers. He has five pick sixes in his
five year career with the Carolina Panthers overall, a team record,
of course. Played at the University of South Carolina. Now
a high school football coach here in Charlotte, we'll check
in with Captain Munterland today.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thirty Seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Captain Munerland loved the Panthers so much he played here
not once, but two stints with the Carolina Panthers twenty
nine through thirteen, twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen. So the
kind of the base point of this podcast is Super
Bowl fifty season twenty fifteen, which lands in between when
you were Viking, but you were part of that ascent
going into that and then you came back after that
(00:51):
as well. So these are your brothers you fought with
and Charlotte is home for you, and we want to
have Captain Munerland on because well, not only a great
football player, but a great interview.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
We value that.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So we valued the interviews because you guys were so thoughtful,
whether it be winning or losing, how you guys came
out and that's kind of a fun place to start
because you think about your career and how many years
you played in this league, double figure years. I mean,
that's to do those kind of things, to be in
the moment after a game. It's easy after a big win,
but after a loss, it's five it's ten minutes. The
(01:22):
coach has maybe said a few words to you guys.
That'd be hard because it's like you guys. The fans
take it so hard, broadcasters nitpick it all, but you
guys live and breathe it and physically, I mean, you
delve your whole life. You leave your wife and kids
to go there all day to be you know, working
and out in the heat and preparing for this. It's
gotta be devastating when things don't.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Go your way.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Oh yeah, it's definitely is, especially when you had like
a heart fault game and you might be the part
of the reason why you lost the game, and to
have the that happened and you have to talk to
the media after, it's tough. It's definitely tough. I'm a
guy who always owned up today his mistakes. I never
wanted to not talk to the media and get a
(02:02):
guy's insight on what happened in the game and different
things like that. So it was tough. But at the
same time I went traded for the world, man, I
wanted to get them the insight and you know, let
him know what happened, you know, even though sometimes I
was on the wrong side, you know of it. So
that part was definitely tough, But at the same time,
it wasn't changing for the world. I kind of like
kind of missed those things. You know, you missed those
(02:23):
things when you're done and retired. You kind of missed
talking to the media, you know, being in the locker
room with your brothers, and like you said, man, it's
something that was built around here that was very special.
You know. I wasn't part of the twenty fifteen season
when they made the run to the Super Bowl, but
I remember in twenty thirteen when we started out one
in three and we went on a roll and Coach
(02:46):
rivera right then and there. I think he ended up
going in and Coach of the Year that year. Luke
Keigley was a Defensive Player of the Year that year
and it was a lot of different things that change
the makeup of this organization. You know, we was back
on top and to leave in free agency, it was tough.
It was tough. I remember being in Minnesota man, being
(03:07):
in Rick Spearman office and I had to sit there
and look at my phone. Coach Rivera was calling me.
I had to act like a kid that was in school.
I raised my hand say hey, can I go use
the restaurant right fast. I was one of those guys
because I didn't want to be disrespectful in answer the
phone right then. So I like, I had to use
the restaurant rich. I didn't, but I wanted to answer
the phone for Coach Rivera and Sean McDermott before I
(03:27):
signed in my contract. You know, they was telling me,
you know, a cap, we want you to hold off
a little bit long as you can. It hurt. I
didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave because
I knew this place was going to be very special.
And fast forward a couple of years later, they make
it to the Super Bowl and I actually went out
there to San Franz to watch those guys play because
those my teammates. I wanted them to win, so bad, man,
(03:50):
Just for the guys like Thomas Davis, Royan Khalil, you know,
the Charles Johnson's, the Cam Newton's, the Luke Keithley's, all
those guys that I put in to work with. I
wanted to see those guys successful, and you know, they
fell a little short, and I was kind of bid
of about it because I wanted them to win. I
wanted them to win. And I remember playing coming to
the playoff games. I actually said in Charles justin box
(04:13):
doing the playoff games when they played against Arizona, and
I was sitting there like man, and I went after
the game, those guys were celebrating. I was talking to
Charles and I was sitting there like, man. I was like,
you know, y'all going to the super Bowl, and you
know the only thing y'all missing is me. He said, yeah, Cap,
but we went fifteen to one with out you, and
I was like, yo, but you know it was just
all U. I got sixteen to know with you then
(04:35):
you can only throw that backup. So man, just to
see those guys have success, man, I was happy for him.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
When John Beason says the same thing, he was at
the Super Bowl and you probably saw him there sitting,
he said, with Thomas Davis's wife, and he was sitting
in that part of the stadium that day. It's kind
of a similar story because you guys had a similar
timeline where you're both Twenty thirteen was the jumping off
point to your next team. You go to Minnesota for
three years. You come back to the Panthers, though, but
you had you started with the John Fox era and
then you had the Ryn Rivera era. So you really
(05:02):
did hit kind of the sweet spot of the Panthers'
success as far as maybe not the particular years exactly,
but really got a nice swath of working under two
really good coaches.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Yeah, really two great coaches. We was just talking about
a couple of guys were just talking about how when
I first came into the league in two thousand and nine,
having Jonas Fox as a head coach, probably one of
the toughest coaches I've ever been around when it came
to hard nose football. I remember calling my mom after
my first training camp practice and it was like, ooh my,
I don't know if I'm built for this because coach
(05:33):
Fox was so grind, grind, grind, w's full path first day.
You know, now it's rules you can't with the new
CBA and things like that. With Coach Fox, this first day,
full pass, live goal line, it's like, yo, we want
to see who really want to be out here? And
I remember going and I got to tackle D'angela Williams
and you know, Johnathan Stewart and I'm sitting at twenty
one years old, like whoa, and it's live. I gotta
(05:53):
take them to the ground, you know. And you stopped
taking people to the grounds back in high school? You know,
do that now? No in college just thud up, tag off.
But Coach Fox was live and I was sitting there like, mom,
I don't know like this NFL. I got grown men
out here, Julius Pepper, Steven Smith, you know, I got
Treval Warden, who was like a big brother to me,
(06:15):
South Carolina connection, and I was like this is different,
you know. Then the fast forward then you know, Coach
Fox go on to a different team and we get
Coach Rivera. That's when the CBA started to change a
little bit. You couldn't have two of days. One of
them had to be a walk through, and then you
have practice and it's kind of changed, the makeup kind
of change, and we had to buy into a whole
another system. I even had to learn a whole nother
(06:37):
I had to learn a whole nother position because with
Coach Fox, I was a corner. With Coach Rivera, he
taught to me being a nickel. And I'm sitting there like, man,
nichols don't get paid, they don't look at me the same, like, no,
I'm not a nickel. You know. I know I'm a
smaller guy, but I'm not a nickelback. But Coach Rivera
told me. He set me down. You know, he coached
guys like Ricky Manny when he was in Chicago, he
(06:58):
coached other great nickels, and he was letting me know,
like Cap, you can make a lot of money playing nickel.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You can really kind of evolve since when you started
at that position to where it is now.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
You can be the best nickel in the league. He's like,
I believe that. I really truly believe that. And I
always know Joe will like you brainwashed me because then
when I got a little older, all I wanted to
do was play nickel. I was like, man, I can
fund with these guys to Thomas Davis and Luke Keigley
and I can look good. Sign me up, you know,
sign me up. So I had two great coaches, you know,
who really taught me how to how to play the
(07:30):
game the correct way. And I had great teammates who
really showed me how to be a pro.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Being five to nine was it something two things? One,
how did you make up for that in other ways?
And secondly, did it give you added incentive because people
are taking you lately because you sure approved it being
in the NFL for as long.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
As you were. Yeah, I think the incentive of being
being five nine was I was already low to the ground.
So when I played bigger guys, like when I played
the guys like Julio Jones and the Vincent Jackson you know,
Rest in Peace guys like that, it was easy for
me to get underneath those guys, you know, and my
(08:08):
feet so happened to move better than those guys because
I'm you know, I'm quicker than them. I could get
in out of cuts. It's not better than those guys
and me having that low gravity to the ground. I
got underneath those guys.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And something that they're probably not used to something of
a mismatch they're not used to.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah. Yes, And the only thing I was challenged with
was vertically. If the ball up in the air, I
knew I was in trust. Jump hard, Yes, jump, I
was gonna be hard, just physically. I can't jump with
those guys who's six one and sixty two, who got
forty inch verticals, and I'm sitting at five down who
can jump thirty eight to forty. But it's just don't match.
It's just don't match. So my cue was, I had
to win at the line of scrimmage. Let me get
(08:44):
the quarterback off this route right here and let those
guys hunt up there, the Greg Hardy's, the Charles Johnson's,
you know, the Jewelius Pepper. Let those guys hunt. So
if I win at the line of scrimmage, I don't
have to worry about the jump ball. So that's what
helped me in the NFL, you know, and Steve Wilks,
he taught me a lot of great things to how
to play the bigger guys. You know. It always playing
(09:04):
a bigger guy. It could never be ball them than
me because they just put me on the back and
they just like a treated like a rebound. It always
had to be ball me than them. So I had
to play in between, try to get my hands on
the ball because if not, those guys just gonna box
me out, you know. And I physically couldn't stop those guys.
You know, That's just something I couldn't do. So Will
(09:26):
showed me that technique and you know the rest of
his history. Man, to play double digits in the NFL.
It's tough. It's tough. And I was with the old
CBA for some years in the new CBA, and I
always joke with some of the younger guys now say, Man,
if I had this CBI played twenty years, you know,
it is tough. It is tough, man, and I just
just thanks. Thanks. I think a lot of people, you know,
(09:47):
forgive me there.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Man.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
It helped me to sustain my career and to be
the pro that I became.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
You hold one of the I think not talked about
enough most underrated records in Panthers. You're nod in your head.
You had five pick sixes in five years with the Panthers. Yes,
not interceptions, five pick sixers, Yes, in five years. Talk
about that mentality of scoring after you're making it because
all of a sudden, you try to make a player
tried to defend. Then you have to catch the ball,
(10:15):
make the interception. Now you're going to take it back
the other way for points. I mean, that's that's not
something that very many players can can put together the
way you.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Did, oh man. I think it was just the mentality
that I had of being a punt returner, you know,
starting my career off as a punt returner, having the
punt return ability in college and even in high school.
And I think what form that was. Just having coaches
and guys when we always picked the ball off at practice, score,
(10:42):
the mentality was always score, Let's change it, let's hear
the near side line and let's go score. Let's put
points on the board for the offense. And asked, I
did that so much in practice. I just got used
to it. I just got used to it. And then
when I noticed I was right at the record, I
was like, I'm getting it. I knew it. I wanted
it bad, you know, I wanted it bad. I was like,
I want my name to be in a panther.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So you have to almost think it before you can
accomplish that.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yes, And I was thinking like yo, I remember, I
remember the game that happened playing the New York Jets,
and I was sitting there like, yo, if I kiss
this interception, they're gonna throw the ball. They now, if
I kiss this interception, I gotta go to the house.
I had a mentality that I gotta go score. And
I think that, like I said, that was my ability
of being a punt returner and me just doing it
over and over again at practice.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
You have already alluded to something at the great coaches
you had, and now you are a coach yourself. Be
your first year as a head coaches right now at
Chambers High School this season after two years as an
assistant coach at Myers Park. What what do you draw
upon from whether it's a pee week coach, your NFL
coaches who kind of resonates with you as you become
(11:49):
your own version of a head coach and Captain.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Manland, I had to go with my high school coach
and Steve Wilkes. I kind of mix those two guys
together and now you get me.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I don't know coach a big Steve Wolks fan, So
I know that.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
They always say great coaches steer from other coaches, So
I kind of stole they kind of swag and put
it into being me. My great musical at my high
school coach man, he was a wonderful man man. He
was a coach that pushed me each and every day.
That installed disciplined in me. And that's what I'm doing
(12:26):
at Chambers when it was coming to win the right gear,
you know, instead of being me being different than my
teammates if they had on blue socks, I was the
guy who wanted to wear yellow socks. Our colors were
blue and gold, so I might wear gold socks that day.
And he was like, nah, you're not starting from me today,
Like look at your teammates. We don't need nobody to
(12:48):
stand out. Let's just have great football players. So he
put that in me, And now I'm doing that at Chambers,
Like I want everybody to look alike, you know, we
hit the weight room, I want everybody to have on
Chambers gear. I don't need you on a red shirt,
and all colors are blue and orange, you know. So
I'm trying to install that. And then with Steve wilks Man,
it was just the ex's and o's. He taught me
(13:09):
a lot man when I say a lot about the game,
a lot about the game, how to watch film, you know,
how to break down a receiver, how to do all
these different things. Being a smaller guy, you know, how
can I make my game better? You know? I used
to get with Steve Wilks all the time just to
see how can I make my game better? And he
taught me a lot. And now I'm just putting it
all together, and I'm teaching the youth, and I'm teaching
(13:31):
these guys man how to get to the next level. No,
it's hard on our kids. It's hard on our high
school kids right now with the transfer portal. Because if
I can go get a twenty one year old, and
I'm at the University of South Carolina, and I can
go get a twenty one year old, and I got
a high school kid who's coming out of high school
seventeen eighteen, I'm gonna go get the twenty one year
old kid who already been in college, who already know
(13:51):
the ropes of going to class, who already know the
ropes of getting up for five thirty in the morning
work out. And if I'm an pay a kid with
the nil deal, I'm gonna pay that kid. Our high
school babies are hurting now because of that. You know,
we all wanted them to get paid. We all wanted,
you know, everybody with the nil's deal, then a transfer reporter.
You can go wherever you want to go. But it's
killing our high school kids. It's killing us. And I
(14:13):
tell my parents. I had a parent meeting with the
parents of my team, and I told them, like, listen,
I know a lot of people want to go big.
They want to go big Division one. They want to
go to South Carolina, they want to go to Georgia,
they want to go to all these places. But they're
not gonna be able to do that right now. They're
not gonna be able to do that because the college
coaches are not looking for those younger guys unless you
(14:35):
just a guy. You really have to be a guy.
And if you're not a guy, it's gonna be tough
on you.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Domino effect everything happens.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Yes, and you're gonna have to work your way up
the ladder. And they got all these Juco rules that's
coming out now where you can go Juco for two
years and still have four years of eligibility to still
play at a big level. So I'll encourage some of
my guys, like, listen, it might not be Alabama orange
of South Carolina right now. You know, if you have
to go to Juco route to make your way up
(15:04):
and do.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
So, get some good tape real quick before we let
you go. Because you wore that garnet in black at
South Carolina Chambers. I know you cooped about this on
the day they announced you primary color orange very similar
to Clemson. Has that has it grown on you? Have
you adopted it as being the Chambers orange and not
thinking about the College orange.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I have definitely adopted being the Chambers orange and blue,
not the Clemson And the craziest thing it gives you
say that, so Clempson donated, Oh my god, Clempson donated
a practice fans to Chambers. Okay, so I have to
see those practice fans every time we step on the field.
So when I see that, Paul, I'd be like, oh
my god, like, how did I get stuck in this?
(15:47):
So I definitely had to see it. But man, it's
all fun and games. Man. I'm just excited, man, just
to have the opportunity to impact it.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Captain great to catch up with the best of like
a Chambers, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thirty seasons of Panther football
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.