It’s only a two-hour drive from Josh Norman's hometown of Greenwood, S.C. to Bank of America Stadium, but the road he's taken to stardom has been anything but a quick trip.

Last year, few outside the Carolinas knew Norman's name. Now, future Hall of Famers are calling him the best cornerback in the game.

If it were just his game, Norman would be getting a fair amount of ink. But his personality, which balances between contagious and outrageous, has helped attract even more attention.

It only took him 27 years and four seasons.

"I know where I come from," Norman said on Monday when asked about how he's handling his new-found fame. “Stay [as humble] as I can with the confidence to move and change things. It's not so much being cocky. It's just confidence in my beliefs in myself. I've always been like this, so there's no way to change it now."

 

 

During his latest moment in the national spotlight, Norman didn't disappoint. Appearing on ESPN Radio's The Dan Le Batard Show Monday morning, Norman explained how he cleared his horse-riding touchdown celebration with NFL appeals officer Derrick Brooks ahead of his pick-6 at Tampa Bay. That gained Norman a new biggest fan.

“I am swooning right now,” Le Batard said between laughs. “I want to talk to him the rest of my life. Where has this person been all my life?”

Norman's two segments with Le Batard were a dichotomy, one that revealed to a national listening audience why Norman has become the best interview in the Panthers' locker room.

First, he displayed his extreme confidence.

"I don't see myself lining up with anybody as a threat to me," he said.

Then, he shared the story of living on his brother’s couch before he walked-on at Coastal Carolina.

"The first [segment] had the fireworks and the cockiness. The second one was his story, which is crazy,” Dan LeBatard said after the interview. “Who the hell goes from sleeping on the couch to the best cornerback in football?"

When his breakout year ends and the offseason begins, a bidding war could get as high as Norman’s talents. His journey to the top may have taken longer than most, but it's a trip that will soon pay off.

"It was crazy to go through that and experience that humbling time. It brought me up to where I am today," Norman told Le Batard.

"I don't care what people say. I've overcome so much, and if that can place me in a position like this, from so small and tiny, then I don't care what it is. You're not going to stop me or defeat me."