Lincoln East football looks to expand winning culture
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The Lincoln East Spartans are ready for a clean slate as they head into the 2022-23 season.
Despite a fairly strong 2021 showing, the team says they want to continue building the winning program.
“We wanna make a winning culture here,” East senior Sam Cappos said. “In the past East has been a great football team and we just wanna keep that going.”
Head coach John Gingery is entering his 42nd year as head of the Spartans. He says this year is all about building cohesiveness and trust within his team. But he also plans to get back to the fundamentals.
“I think we got to play better defense, we’re going to have to fill in some holes on offense… the offensive line and in the backfield,” Gingery said. “Our quarterback and running backs [too]we got a good group of receivers back so hopefully we can build on those things and fill in the holes.”
Of those wide receivers returning is 4-star athlete Malachi Coleman.
Coleman is one of the most sought-after recruits that will be coming from Nebraska. He says he has narrowed it down to his top seven schools, the Huskers are included in that group.
Coleman is a versatile player for the Spartans getting starting reps at wide receiver, defensive end and defensive back last season.
Most of all though, his drive to make the culture of his team better is evident.
“We’re a family, we expect a lot of each other but we still hold each other accountable,” Coleman said.
“No matter what my situation is, I’m gonna stick to my morals, I’m gonna stick to the things that I know are gonna make me, me. I don’t change for nobody and I’m gonna bring everybody up around me. So that’s how I need this team to be, I’m gonna bring every single one of them up with me.”
Coleman says that his standard starts with the basics and ends with a championship mentality.
“It’s gonna take fundamentals, leadership, accountability across the whole team… it’s gonna take everything,” Coleman said. “If you want a championship-caliber team, they got to work like champions, every single thing you do on and off the field .”
