CHARLOTTE — Captain Munnerlyn has always been an underdog, so he definitely appreciates one.

The former Panthers cornerback, who is now off to a strong first season as the head coach at Julius Chambers high school, has been chosen as this week's Legend of the Game.

A seventh-round pick in the 2009 draft, Munnerlyn persevered to create a 10-year NFL career.

The 5-foot-9 cornerback was used to overcoming obstacles, from Day 1. He was born three months prematurely and had to fight throughout his life.

After growing up in Mobile, Ala., he went on to a solid career at South Carolina before making his way to the NFL and carving out a niche as one of the top slot corners in the league. He played his first four seasons here, left as a free agent to go to Minnesota, but returned for his final two seasons in 2017 and 2018.

This week, he'll be back to hit the Keep Pounding drum heading into the fourth quarter.

Panthers.com caught up with Munnerlyn this week to talk about what coming back means, his new coaching career, the teams he's been on and what he thinks about the current team during a three-game win streak.

Q: You're coming back at just the right time.

Munnerlyn: "Yes, sir. I'll be around for the game and hopefully those guys can keep that winning streak going."

Q: As a former player, what's it been like watching the current team reel off three straight?

Munnerlyn: "Man, it's been fantastic, just to see the guys go out there and compete and playing at a very high level, and also just not competing but winning the games. We've been in every single game these last couple of weeks, and to see the guys that go on the road. I know we're undefeated at home, but see the guys go on the road and get a win, and in New York was great, man, just to bring the city back.

"I tell you what, when you win around here, man, the whole city is on fire, so it's definitely a great thing to see those guys winning games and getting above 500."

Q: Can you tell when you're coaching, or just around the city, that there's an excitement now?

Munnerlyn: "Oh yeah, for sure, oh for sure. Even some of the guys over here at the high school come in, and they talk about it. It's like, man, you seen the Panthers last night? And I was like, yeah. And it gives me a little bragging rights, because some of my coaches on my staff, they're Cowboy fans and things like that, so I let them know we beat them.

"But the whole city, man, it's just like the whole city when the Panthers win. It's unmatched, especially when you can go out there and compete and be in games and win them. Man, this is unmatched."

Q: This also has to be familiar to you, since you were on that 2013 team (that started 1-3 but then won eight straight en route to 12-4), doesn't it?

Munnerlyn: "If you remember we started the year off, we 1-3 and we made a run. We won eight in a row, then we had a loss in New Orleans that snapped our winning streak, but we came back and beat New Orleans a couple of weeks later to win the division. We had to go to Atlanta and beat those guys on New Year's weekend. So, it got a lot of similarity to that team, a team with a quarterback in Year 3 in Cam Newton, with a defense that was very stingy, had Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, myself, Charles Johnson, and guys like that, man.

"The run defense is stout right now for the Panthers, man. When I say they're shutting down the run, Derrick Brown and all those guys up front are doing an amazing job. When you throw the ball up in the air, you know Jaycee Horn's coming down with it, man. He's looking like a shutdown corner. Those guys, they've got all the tools, man. They've got all the tools to be a great football team.

"The makeup of their team is very great, and I see that Dave Canales and Dan Morgan put a great team together, and now I'm just happy that the world can see that those guys can be successful, and I'm glad they're getting the confidence to be successful."

Q: When you think about that streak in 2013, when did it hit you guys that you were pretty good?

Munnerlyn: "We went to Minnesota, we were 1-3, and I remember Jordan Gross saying some things pregame. And we all heard the whispers or coach (Ron) Rivera getting fired and things like that, and I think that would have changed our year. All of the guys, we just said we know this was a good football team, we just didn't know how to put it together. We didn't know how to finish, and I think when we beat Minnesota and we went on the road, and I think after that, things just changed for us. We played the Rams at home, and all of a sudden, we got up to 500. And it just went on from there.

"Every team that came into Bank of America Stadium, we were beating them, even some teams that we went on the road, we went to Miami and won a tough game on the road against a Miami Dolphins team that people were saying was going to beat us. We went to Miami and we won that game. And all of a sudden, man, we looked up and we were 8-3, so things like that happen. Like everybody at the beginning of the year, when we lost a couple of games and all of a sudden we came out and we beat Atlanta, everybody was like, oh yeah, they got a chance. Then the next week, you know, we don't play well and all of a sudden now we're above .500, those guys can make the same run that we did."

Q: Also wanted to ask about your coaching career at Chambers. After missing the playoffs last year, you guys are off to a good start (4-4 entering Friday's game against West Charlotte, with a good chance to make the 8A playoffs). What's this first season as a head coach been like for you?

Munnerlyn: "Oh man, it's been fun. It's been fun just to pour into these kids over here, to get the kids some game and some hope, and let them know anything is possible. Just go out there and put my Xs and O's in the place, man. All the practices that we've been through over the summer and all the hard work during training camp and things like that, man, it's definitely paying off with these kids.

"As of right now, we're in the playoffs, so, that's a good thing. So I'm happy about that. They didn't make it last year, so this year we're in the playoffs, so I'm excited about this. We've got a big last two weeks of the season, to see what our seeding is going to be. But other than that, man, I'm in the perfect position. A perfect position to get these guys back to the glory days. Not too long ago, Chambers was a school that always been in the playoffs and having the chance to win it all. So we're trying to get these guys back going and hopefully I'm the coach to get that job done."

Q: After dipping your toe in the coaching waters with the Bills last summer (as a Bill Walsh coaching intern, on Bills head coach Sean McDermott's staff during training camp), you really do enjoy this, don't you?

Munnerlyn: "I'm definitely enjoying it, man. At first, I didn't think about it. I was like, I don't know if I want to coach. When I was done with football, I was lost for a couple of years, trying to figure myself out. I didn't think I wanted to coach, but I started training people, and then I realized, like, oh man, I'm liking this. And then all of a sudden, now I'm coaching, I'm a head coach three years later, so I'm definitely enjoying it.

"It's different. I was with the Bills last year, and everybody asked if I wanted to coach in the NFL. And I'm sitting there like, I don't know. As I went and did that thing, I think my heart was in high school because you get to teach these kids in high school, you get to teach and coach them, so you get to teach them the game, but also you're coaching them as well. But in the NFL, the next level, you're really coaching because some guys are stuck in their own ways. And I used to be one of those guys, you know, going into Year 9, I had a coach come in and say, you know, Cap, you should press like this. I'm like, I tried it out that practice, like it don't work for me. So I went back to my old ways. He went to coach Rivera, like, he ain't listening to me, he wants to press his way, he wants to do this, and I'm sitting there like, coach, this is what got me here. This is what made me who I am. So he really couldn't teach me new things because I was stuck in my ways.

"But in high school you can teach these guys, you can groom them and you can teach them the ropes. So, that's the biggest difference that I see from the high school level to the NFL. You're really just coaching. You say Cover 3 in the NFL, the guys know what Cover 3 is. But you say Cover 3 in high school, you really have to go into details. So that's another thing that I like about it."

Q: As a former player, what's it mean to you to come back and hit that Keep Pounding drum, and be a part of that tradition?

Munnerlyn: "Oh man, it's going to be exciting. I'm going to do a little mean mugging to coach McDermott now, because that's my old coaching staff. But it's going to be man electric for me, man, just to get this opportunity. When they called me and told me, you're going to be the Legend of the Game, I was sitting there like, Wow, I couldn't believe it. I was very honored for guys to think of me. That's big, man. That let me know I did it the right way.

"So, whoever thought, this 5-9 kid from Mobile, Ala., to have 10 years in the NFL and still have a household name in the Carolina, that's a wild situation to me. So I know it's going to be electrifying and I'm excited, man. I'm going to try to put a hole in that thing."