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Guys coming out of the backfield are demonstrating a capacity to catch the ball in pass routes. "You feel like it's a trickle-down effect from the NFL to college to high school or from college on down to high school depending on how you look at it, but in 80-to-90 percent of offense the runningback has to be able to catch the ball. We feel like three out of four of our possibilities really do a good job. Some of them can even play receiver so that definitely adds versatility and another weapon for us," Mendoza said. Receivers Birkes is one of several Wolves who can play receiver. As a freshman at the junior high level Birkes was a big playmaker and again carries the potential every time he steps on the field because he's got a burn- ing will to win and will try to beat the other team if he can possibly find a way to do it. The junior class has several guys with a penchant for catching the ball and running for extra yards including slot receiver Kellar Price who had over 400 yards receiving in 2021. Mendoza hails both for their consistent pass-catching abilities. "When you throw it their way you feel confident that they're going to come down with it," Mendoza said. Caden Brewer will start in the other slot while the Wolves's other outside receiver is just going to kind of be a rotation of some younger guys, possibly a junior and a couple of sophomores. "We feel good about our receiving corps," Mendoza said. Offensive Line As of the second week of August, Lincoln's projected starting offensive from left to right features left tackle Ryan Provence, a returning starter, left guard Kevin Lee, another returning starter, center Val Diaz, who started as a sophomore and missed all of last year, right guard would either be Bryce Bradley or Bryson Sams, and right tackle Caleb Roy, a returning starter. Four out of the five are returning start- ers, counting Diaz, who was out last year with an injury, and the fifth, Bradley, started some games at the end of last season. Mendoza praises new offensive line coaches, Coach Jake Heinrich and Coach Jacob Yarbis, for doing an excellent job with enhancing the Wolves' physicality. "We like our group up front. We love them. I think they're going to, again maybe not ever give you that wow factor, but they can be really, really solid," Mendoza said. DEFENSE Defensive Coordinator J Keith resigned to take the head baseball coaching job at Siloam Springs. That prompted Mendoza to switch from a career offensive coach to take over Lincoln's defense. "Defensively, we return a lot of starters as well. We didn't graduate much produc- tion. We did lose a couple of kids that we planned to have back that did have a lot of production, but that's fine," Mendoza said. Defensive Line On the defensive line the coaches welcome Mason Adkins, who hasn't played since his freshman year. He's a big kid, 6-3, 220 pounds, whom Mendoza said plays with an incredible motor, and looks to start at nose guard. At one defensive end it's kind of a rota- tion of Bradley and Sams. They'll just kind of split time on both sides of the ball and coaches will keep them as fresh as possible. The other defensive end position could be Roy, Provence or sophomore Ty Moss, who played last year on that freshman team and did a really good job. Linebackers The Wolves return three of four lineback- ers with Price, Jones and Sellers along with Chris West, who played significant minutes last year. Trace Wallace is back after missing last year with a knee injury. Job will factor into linebacker as well. "I feel really good about that crew, they're undersized but hard-nosed and physical. They make up for the size difference with their physicality," Mendoza said. Secondary Birkes, a second year starter, plays a ball- hawking safety. Brewer plays one corner- back with the second position up for grabs. Burks is rotating with Junior Hall. Price played safety during fall camp. "It's kind of some moving pieces there, but we're getting them more settled more and more every day," Mendoza said. SPECIAL TEAMS Kicking Game Senior Tsimtxhua Vang gives Lincoln a leg up in its kicking game. "He offers us a weapon there and he will be back. He has to have a little bit of wind, but here [at Wolfpack Stadium] there is always wind so at least for one half we're going to be able to put it in the end zone [on kickoffs] and that's what we'll try to do make them drive the length of the field and it's hard for any offense to do that," Mendoza said. Vang also provides a field goal option in a last second situation or end of the half scenario. "He's got the leg to legitimately stretch it out. I think in practice last year he hit from 47, maybe 48, but you feel [kicking] from 35 yards with him for sure. Punting Jones will punt this year. Est. 1982 County Building Center We are your one stop hometown shop! We support Local High School Football! 8C Enterprise-Leader 2 0 2 2 F o o t b LINCOLN VARSITY FOOTBALL ROSTER 2022 No. Player Grade Pos. Hgt. Wgt. 1 Chris West 11 WR/LB 5-9 150 2 Drew Moore 11 QB/DB 6-2 185 3 Kale Jones 10 RB/LB 5-10 160 4 J.R. Hall 10 RB/DB 5-7 150 5 Colt Cushing 10 WR/DB 5-8 145 6 Sawyer Copeland 10 WR/DB 5-8 150 7 Trace Wallace 11 WR/LB 5-9 130 8 K.J. Antoine 12 WR/LB 6-5 215 9 Mike Hensley 10 WR/LB 5-9 160 10 Kellar Price 11 WR/LB 5-9 155 11 Caden Brewer 10 WR/DB 6-2 150 12 Kayden Job 9 TE/LB 6-1 200 13 Ty Burks 11 WR/DB 5-5 100 15 Tsimtxhua Vang 12 K 5-7 140 16 Ruger Remington 10 RB/LB 5-8 155 17 Jace Birkes 11 WR/DB 5-9 145 18 Tye Moss 10 DL 5-9 165 20 Nick Moua 12 WR/DB 5-7 160 22 Layne Sellers 12 RB/LB 5-9 150 24 Tre Campbell 10 WR/DB 5-10 155 25 Sawyer Copeland 10 WR/DB 5-8 150 50 Demetrius Self 11 OL/DL 5-6 160 51 Ryan Provence 11 OL/DL 6-1 200 52 Kevin Lee 12 OL/DL 5-8 215 53 Kaleb Roy 11 OL/DL 5-10 200 54 Lucas Adkins 11 OL/DL 5-10 220 55 Josh Pack 12 OL/DL 5-9 170 56 Dakota Dossey 12 TE/LB 5-8 190 57 Bryson Sams 10 OL/DL 5-11 200 58 Aiden Olson 11 OL/DL 5-8 170 70 Matthew Greenlee 11 OL/DL 5-7 230 72 Bryce Bradley 11 OL/DL 5-10 200 75 Mason Adkins 12 OL/DL 6-3 220 77 Val Diaz 12 OL/DL 6-2 290 78 Josh Diddle 10 OL/DL 6-0 210 Head coach: Reed Mendoza Assistants: Mason Wann, Isaac Johnson, Tyler Asher, Jake Heinrich, Jacob Yarbis CoNTINuED FroM PAgE 7C LINCoLN: Career Offensive Coach Is Taking Over Varsity Wolves' Defense This Season