Lincoln football hopes younger members will step up in 2024

SHINNSTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — Lincoln football went 6-5 in 2023, and has lost quite a bit of seniors, but that has not stopped them.

“We’re happy with our numbers considering we lost a big senior class and our work ethic has been excellent,” Head Coach Rob Hawkins said.

“We’re on the right path, you know. We’ve got a heck of a quarterback, we’ve got a lot of skill guys, we’ve got a good line, we’ve got a good defense,” Landon Swiger said.

AJ Bart is starting at quarterback for the second year and that makes a world of a difference.

“He grew up during the season. He is a little bigger, a little stronger and he definitely has a firmer grasp of what we want out of him and I just see a mature kid who is ready to step up and lead,” Rob Hawkins said.

The one area of concern for the Cougars is their age.

“This year we’re going to have a lot of guys stepping up and I really think with our wide out, Aidain Rice, he’s really the leader of our skill group. I think he’ll carry the team, I think he’ll carry the wideouts and I think he’ll really push them to be the best that they can be,” AJ Bart said.

“Participation, everything we’ve done from last school year to right now, the participation has been great and the kids have been picking up stuff really well. It’s a huge benefit when you have coachable kids, and right now, our kids have been really coachable,” Rob Hawkins said.

That coachability has made Lincoln extremely hopeful in reaching their overall goal.

“You wanna win, you want to stack up wins and you want to make the playoffs obviously, but you know we just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing. People can doubt us, they can say what they want to say, but we just got to prove them wrong, face the adversity and go through and battle,” AJ Bart said.

The Cougars will travel to Nitro on Aug. 30 for their first game.

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