Chuck Muncie, former star running back of...

Chuck Muncie, former star running back of the Chargers, was sentenced Tuesday to 2 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a felony drug charge and lying to a judge about using cocaine while free on bail.

“The only way you’re going to get the message in this case is if you go to jail,” U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving told Muncie in San Diego.

Irving imposed the sentence on Muncie, who now admits cocaine addiction, even though his attorney, Cindy Aaron, submitted eight letters supporting Muncie’s plea to be released in order to undergo intensive drug rehabilitation, including ones from former Charger Coach Don Coryell and Charger team physician E. Lee Rice.

Muncie also offered apologies to the court and said “I’m more than willing to get my life back in order.”

Muncie’s sentence caps years of legal troubles for the former star whose career was cut short by drug use.