Why ex-Panthers star Captain Munnerlyn thinks his Chambers High team ‘can win it all’
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There are 11 N.C. high school football teams ranked in the High School Football America national preseason poll.
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Seven are from the Charlotte-area. Three are from the Meck Power 6 conference. So Chambers High coach Captain Munnerlyn, the former Carolina Panthers star, understood exactly the boldness of what he was saying when he made a very declarative statement about his unranked team during conference media day at Mallard Creek on Tuesday.
“You want me to be honest,” Munnerlyn said. “I think we’ll be pretty good. I’m going to put a target on our back, but I’m built like this. I think we’ve got a chance, a chance to win everything. I said it. You can write it down today. I’ve got this much confidence in this team.”
Chambers was 5-7 last season. So why does Munnerlyn feel so good about his chances?
“It’s just the makeup of this team, and it’s player-led,” he said. “Sometimes I just sit back, and I’m like, ‘Wow, something special is going on.’ And it’s not just the coaching staff. You know, it starts with us, but at the end of the day, it’s about these players. It’s how they take care of themselves. So, yes, I want that target on our back.”
Munnerlyn was hired at Chambers in January 2025. He had been an assistant coach at Myers Park High, and before that he was a college star at South Carolina who played 154 games as a cornerback in the NFL.
At his hiring press conference, Munnerlyn said his primary job was to “bring the swagger back” to a Chambers program that had, not long ago, been the best in North Carolina.
From 2018-21, Chambers made four straight state championship appearances under head coaches Aaron Brand and Glenwood Ferebee.
From 2022-24, Chambers won nine games, then eight and then five. Munnerlyn was brought in to replace Brandon Wiggins. With a young team that really felt like starting over, Munnerlyn’s first Cougars team went 5-7 last season.
Most of those players are back with several high-profile transfers, including West Mecklenburg linebacker Tyson Stancil — who had 91 tackles and three sacks last season — and West Charlotte quarterback Jamouri Nichols, who was offensive player of the year in the state’s toughest league last season.
But Munnerlyn said rumors of Chambers having more than two dozen transfers just aren’t true.
“I know a lot of rumors are circulating,” Munnerlyn said. “They say we’ve got 27 transfers in, like we’ve got a whole different team. I wouldn’t say it’s more than 10.”
Nichols is one of the most high-profile transfers in North Carolina. As a sophomore, he led West Charlotte to its first state championship in nearly 30 years and was named championship game MVP.
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As a junior, he led the Lions to the state semifinals and finished the season with 2,005 yards passing and 20 touchdowns plus 518 yards rushing and 13 more scores.
Nichols said he intended to finish his career at West Charlotte until his mother moved his family to northeast Charlotte.
“I was in biology class and she texted me,” he said. “She was like, ‘I’ve got some bad news for you.’”
Nichols said he was heartbroken about leaving his brothers at West Charlotte, but said he has found some new ones at Chambers.
“It was love here,” he said. “They were like, ‘We know who you are,’ but you’ve got to work for it.’ Like, you’ve got to earn your name over here in the weight room and on the field. But they trusted me.”
Munnerlyn was out of town when he got the news about his new QB1. Of course, he was elated.
“I was like, ‘Oh man. I’ve got a quarterback-quarterback,’” Munnerly said. “A lot of colleges are sleeping on him. I tell them, you have got to put this kid on (the recruiting) board. He’s a smart kid. He can tell you coverages. He can read coverages. He can make every throw. He can do everything.”
Chambers finished the 2025 season by making a second-round playoff appearance, after pulling off a big first-round upset at Pinecrest, which was 8-2 before the matchup.
Now, these Cougars are bigger and faster, and as every player kept talking about Tuesday, very well “coached up” by a staff teeming with college and professional playing experience, including Munnerlyn and another former Panthers’ star, defensive lineman Charles Johnson.
“It just helps,” said Cougars player Marley Vincent. “These guys have NFL knowledge. They’ve been to the highest level, and we’re trying to get where they were. They’re telling us all the right things.”
Sophomore Jy’Mel Green is back for Year 2 in the program, and he said the difference after one year with this staff — and with these new additions — is pretty easy to spot.
“I feel we can win state,” he said. “That’s just how I feel. Just seeing what I’ve seen from last year compared to what we’ve got this year, and looking at other teams I’ve been on … I mean I’ve been playing football since I was very young. I know what good talent looks like on the football field, and seeing what we’ve got, I think we’re in good shape.”
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