In year two of the Evan Smith era, the Manitowoc Lincoln football team is looking to make some waves in the FRCC.
The last time the Ships program boasted a winning record was in 2013, and the last time they earned a conference title was in 2011 when they ended the season at 10-1.
Over the past 11 seasons, this Ships have gone 31-70, but Head Coach Evan Smith says it’s about time that changes.
The 10-year NFL veteran says he saw a lot of good things during their scrimmage with Green Bay Preble last week.
“I thought we played very aggressive as a team,” he explained. “We felt way more prepared and confident going into that scrimmage than we did last year. I mean, that was just comments from the kids.”
Smith and his coaching staff made some adjustments to how they ran training camp this year, and the man in charge says it is showing.
“The emphasis that we put on tackling, hitting, blocking…giving you guys time to learn your assignments,” he revealed. “This year we’re going to have a lot of guys on both sides of the ball.”
Smith’s coaching philosophy all boils down to one thing: do the little things right.
“When I call the simplest thing, can we go out there and we execute?” he said. “You want to get complicated, but you can’t do the little things right, and in the big things, they are never going to work.”
Senior Brett Danielson is taking over the signal-calling on offense, after playing Tight End for a majority of the 2024 campaign.
He took over as QB for the final few games of the season and has put in a lot of time over the offseason learning the position.
He says the work has paid off.
“It’s a completely different team than last year,” Brett explained. “I mean, the point we’re at this year is closer to midseason form compared to us last year. I mean, we’re we’re ready to go. We’re confident in all of our stuff.”
Senior Wide Receiver Marius Beasly is also looking forward to what the offense will showcase, be he is also a return specialist, bringing a punt and a kickoff back for touchdowns last season.
“I’m just looking for that one open hole,” he said of his return philosophy. “If I see the hole, I’m gone.”
Senior Safety Noah Blaser admits last year was rough on the defense, but this year is a whole different story.
“Last year, it took a while for us to start to hit and everything, especially during like our first scrimmage. We were a little nervous,” he noted. “But this year in practice, we’ve been getting the right fits for tackling and everything, and especially in the scrimmage, really showed that we’re getting all hats to the ball and really hitting this year. So that’s going to definitely help.”
Malakai Munoz will be seeing both sides of the ball after a solid year of focusing mainly on defense last year.
The linebacker will also be starting at tight end, a change he has really embraced.
“Last year, I was working with the tight ends,” he explained. “I started the first game of the season, and it’s just been pretty much picking up the new plays and putting some old plays back there. It’s been an easy transition with Brett as my QB.”
Munoz will be a perfect fit at both positions as his football philosophy is simple.
“Hit hard, go fast,” he said with a smile on his face.
The Ships will open their season on the road against De Pere on Thursday.
The game will be aired on 980 WCUB and at CubRadio.com starting at 7:00 p.m.
