It’s a whole new world for the Railsplitters this year.
Jordan Hannah is Abraham Lincoln’s only returning starter, and even he will be at a new position. The senior will go from receiver and defensive back to quarterback for an inexperienced Railsplitters team looking to win a third-straight Public School Athletic League football title. It will do so with 21 new starters from a team that lost 32 seniors.
“Even our backups were seniors,” Lincoln coach Shawn O’Connor joked.
The 5-foot-6 Hannah is the team’s best athlete. His playmaking skills, speed and knowledge of the offense made him the best choice to take over for pocket passer Paul Litvak. The Coney Island school had success with a small, mobile quarterback two years ago in Javon Moore, and Hannah played the position for his youth league team growing up.
“It was always with me,” he said. “They just brought it back.”
Senior Matthew Beckford will anchor the offensive live. Last year’s backup running back Dayquan Audain, junior varsity call up Anthony Khan and Flushing transfer Naim Coakly are all vying for carriers this season.
Senior Kevin Medy is the team’s most versatile threat because he can play receiver or running back in similar ways to graduated star Luis Rodriguez. Nigel Propherbs could also see time at receiver or corner back, but Medy has been the player who impressed O’Connor early.
“He is a guy that’s reminded me the most of what we are looking for,” O’Connor said. “He can do a lot of electrify things with the ball.”
Lincoln will turn to highly recruited defensive tackle Romello Martin to be its playmaker on defense. The 6-foot-4, 281-pound junior has scholarship offers from Syracuse, Boston College. Nebraska, UConn, Rutgers. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. He is wearing former All-American Thomas Holley’s number 55 as a sign he is ready to be a leader.
Junior Jordan Jones is Lincoln’s top returning corner back. O’Connor is impressed with his physicality while still being about to cover speedy receivers. Senior Moses Dupree will lead the linebackers.
The new Lincoln squad is confident in its talent and respectful of its pedigree. The players tune out the outside talk that this could be a down year in Coney Island, with Grand Street and Week 1 opponent Erasmus Hall loaded with proven talent. Their goal remains a title at Yankee Stadium in December.
“We don’t really pay attention to the bad talk,” Martin said. “We just focus on [getting to] Week 13.”
Last year’s group did it with players who came into the year unheralded and O’Connor believes the current team learned a lot from playing against the city championship starters in practice five-days a week. They don’t look back, only forward.
“We are the new team,” Medy said. “We have our own legacy to define. We just have to keep following the tradition, keep winning.”
