Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Collins Takes Reins Of Junior Wolves
A PREVIEW OF THE LINCOLN JUNIOR HIGH FOOTBALL TEAM
LINCOLN — Beau Collins, who serves as Defensive Coordinator for Lincoln’s varsity as well as head softball coach, takes over the reins of junior Wolves’ football for 2019.
The resignation of Reed Mendoza, who took the head varsity coaching job at Dover, opened the position and Collins agreed to expand his role shaping Lincoln football.
A small freshman class blends with a larger group of eighth-graders anxious to prove themselves.
“That freshmen class is kind of small and had just a few linemen. The main part of it is in runningback,” Collins said. “Then all these little seventh-graders move up and they’re eighth-graders and all of a sudden they know a lot of the offense. They had done really well their seventh-grade year and learned a big chunk of it so they show up and they know everything and now they’re just trying to compete.”
Although Lincoln runs a pass-happy offense, Collins plans to ease the eighth-graders into junior high football knowing he will eventually deploy a potent aerial game utilized by varsity head coach Don Harrison.
“I want to run the ball really to try and ease the burden on our eighthgrade quarterback and our eighth-grade receivers,” Collins said. “If we can do that really well the passing should be a little easier for them.”
OFFENSE
Quarterback Eighth-grader Drew Moore steps into the starting position for the junior Wolves at quarterback. Already he’s shown a work ethic and commitment to improving his skills and knowledge.
“He had a good seventh grade year, learned a lot, spent a lot of time this summer coming in working routes with the senior high guys trying to learn everything he can,” Collins said. “We look for him to have a pretty good year and continue to grow.” Tailbacks
Freshman Layne Sellers runs the ball hard with eighth-grader Nick Martinez getting carries to give Sellers a break. Martinez checks in when the junior Wolves go to a two-back set and play fullback or H-back. Receivers
Eighth graders Jace Birkes and Keller Price play wide receiver. Both had a good year in seventh grade.
“They’re a little undersized, but they work really hard on learning to run routes really, really well and trying to find the open space,” Collins said. “(Eighthgrader) Austin Mourning is on the other side as an inside slot receiver. He’s got a little bit bigger of a body and working on finding the open space, catch the ball and turning to make a few yards.”
The fourth receiver spot in Lincoln’s spread offense is up for grabs between Gauge Davis, Paxton Price, and a couple others.
“We’ve got a whole lot of receivers right now. The majority of them are eighth-graders, which is a good thing for the future. They’ve all been coming in all summer long and did a little bit of 7-on-7 versus the high school. I think that accelerated their growth quite a bit,” Collins said.
When Lincoln employs a tight end, Mourning will line up there with Martinez playing H-back. Offensive Line
Most of the freshmen on the junior high squad play along the offensive line with twins, Lucas and Mason Adkins playing tackle, and Val Diaz at right guard. As of the the second week of scrimmages starters at center and left guard had yet to be determined. Freshmen Kevin Lee and Grant King competed for starting guard. Lee has also played center.
“The line looks to be coming together well and I look for them to have a really good season to try and help us in the ground game,” Collins said.
DEFENSE
Defensive Line
The Adkins twins and Diaz play up front. They will be spelled by eighth-graders.
“They are a lot quieter than you would expect twins to be. Last year they worked really hard and struggled with just getting it learned and knowing what to do,” Collins said. “This year, they’re kind of emerging to be a little bit of leaders there. They know what to do on plays. They know what the guy next to them is supposed to be doing on plays and it’s cool that we can really count on them to be a leader on the offensive and defensive line.” Linebackers
Sellers and Martinez play inside linebacker and Collins endeavors to prepare them to be on the field constantly.
“They are going to play on both sides of the ball. I’ve had conversations with them, (telling them), ‘you just got to be in shape and good to go because it’s going to be really long nights.’ And they’ve been working really hard to get there,” Collins said.
Secondary
Birkes and Price play cornerback with a lot of competition for the safety spots.
“Our safeties have been just a battle for it. We’ve got Gauge Davis at one of them and Trace Wallace right now at the other one, and it looks like they’ve kind of settled into it,” Collins said. “Again, it looks like all of our eighthgraders are skill guys out on the edges and they’ve had a huge learning curve trying to catch up to the junior high game, but they’re working pretty hard at it and we hope that by the time the season’s here they’re going to be ready to go full speed ahead.”
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicking Game
Sellers has done a lot of kicking in practice. Martinez and Moore have worked on punting and kickoffs.
“It’s something we spend time on two or three days a week, getting them out there, letting them kick,” Collins said. “We’ve lined up all of the special teams and went through them and their responsibilities and it’s really going to find out when the season gets here who’s kicking the ball the best will be the guy who gets the nod.” Returners
Martinez and Sellers are doing the bulk of kickoff and punt return work.
“They carry the ball all the time. We trust them. They know what they’re doing,” Collins said.
Birkes also works the return game some.
“I like the bigger guys back there. Junior high tends not to kick the ball as deep as high school does, so I really like the tight end kid, the two runningbacks, they get their hands on the ball, they have little bit bigger bodies. They are used to being hit,” Collins said.
CONFERENCE
This will be Lincoln’s last year as a member of the 4A-1 Conference. Next season the senior Wolves will go to 3A with Elkins moving up to 4A. Both schools are currently members of the 4A-1 Junior High Conference.
“Our preseason’s going to be Westville, Okla., Keys, Okla., and Subiaco just like the high school is. Then it’s Prairie Grove and they’ve always had a rather strong team. Then Gravette, Gentry, Huntsville, Pea Ridge and Elkins,” Collins said. “Elkins had a really good team last year. Pea Ridge is going to have a lot of kids and they always have a really strong team, but I look forward to us hopefully to have a really strong showing through the conference schedule.”
OVERVIEW
“We’re really finding out who has the best skill level. Right now we’ve stressed that the guys, who are going to play, are the guys that know the plays, and can do the job,” Collins said. “The eighth-graders haven’t shown any fear of the ninth graders or being intimidated by it. They’ve stepped up to the plate. They want their spot.”