(team chattering) - [William] Do we want a team of pet store dogs or a team of junkyard dogs?

You know what the difference is?

Pet store dog is coddled it's whole life.

It grows up in the store.

They give it food every couple hours, it's in air condition.

A nice suburban family takes it home and it never goes outside.

And you know what it's soft.

(team hollering) What about a junkyard dog?

Lives in the city, eats its own food, fights anybody that comes.

What do we want a team of?

Pet store dogs or junk yard dogs?

If you are an O-lineman, you better be a junkyard dog the rest of the year.

Do you understand?

- [Team] Yes sir.

- [William] Not doing any of this baby stuff.

(whistle blowing) (pads cracking) (whistle blowing) (team cheering) - Pancake every time!

(drum line playing) (sirens wailing) - [Temeka] His favorite meal.

Rotel.

His birthday was Wednesday and I was supposed to cook it for his birthday and I never got around to it.

He like Rotel, I don't.

Like I gotta have a taste for it.

- [Howard] I love Rotel.

Bro I could eat that every day.

- [Temeka] Every day.

- [Howard] Every day, non stop.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack.

- [Temeka] Oh that secret ingredient, he like black beans in it.

- I was coming to see if you cooking.

- [Temeka] Put them black beans in there.

It's a different ball game.

(chuckling) - And I think it would be the 2017 season Howard and Jermaine's freshman year.

They both started as freshmen and became high profile players.

They both got offers to go to suburban schools, private schools that have better facilities, better equipment.

- I've had a couple of high school coaches ask me to come play for them, but there's no feeling like home.

I don't think I would like give it my all if I were somewhere else.

- [William] As a coaching staff and myself as a coach, we told them they were doing it more to leave a legacy at Lincoln for all the kids that played in the city youth leagues like they did, they could see that, "Hey, I don't have to leave and go to a school just for athletics.

I can grow up and play with the same kids that I grew up playing with and still get to the same level of success that these other places are promising me."

- It wasn't easy to keeping him to stay.

I'm gonna tell you the truth.

I had to tell him, "Son, as long as you do what you do, they're gonna find you.

It don't matter where you go to school at, if you're doing what you doing, they gonna find you."

- Typically, what happens for the recruiting standpoint is, you know, suburban school will come in to those sporting events and find kids early.

You know, you need to do that before you start high school so that you're here into our system right away, because there's restrictions, you know, statewide or eligibility wise.

Once you get into high school, you know, transferring and things like that, or it has to be a certain type of situation in order for you to be eligible, to compete in sports.

I mean, I'm sure there's lots of, there's lots of illegal things going on that, you know, in high school sports that people probably don't know about, but it happens frequently.

- I'm all right with being in the city, you just gotta have your faith.

All it takes is a mustard seed.

That's it.

I tell him, do what you supposed to do.

Always be on point when you out in public, 'cause people see you're a big guy, you stand out like a sore thumb.

Just go out there and implement what I taught you in here, out there and you're gonna be all right.

You're gonna be all right.

It's hard.

You got peer pressure everywhere.

Then, you know, you wanna make it out.

It's hard, and I know you get frustrated and you got a mama that's constantly on his neck.

(laughing) - To their credit as a young kid, to be able to see a vision of what you could leave a legacy of at a public city school and provide that for more kids in the future, it's really a testament to them.

- [Reporter] Coach does it take your guys a while to learn how to win, how to deal with success?

And you've got a lot of returners coming back.

That experience obviously is gonna pay off.

- Right.

And that's what's helped this year.

Three years ago, for example, when Howard was a freshmen, and Howard will tell you, our practices were hard 'cause the kids had to learn how to be mentally tough and they had to learn what it takes to be a championship program.

And what they've done by setting the bar so high is they really made it easy for the younger kids.

So now we have a younger group that's able to come in, you're able to have good strong leaders to show them what it takes to how to practice like college program, how to run through practice, when you get in tight games, how to be mentally tough and overcome that.

So the younger guys have been able to learn from the older guys and that's what's helped our program, I think from top to bottom.

'Cause now the younger kids get to come in and they don't have to do everything themselves.

They can learn from the older guys like, "Okay, this is what I gotta do to be good."

And so I think that's what's helped our program the most the last couple of years is the good leadership that the older kids are providing.

- [Reporter] Was it hard to see that maybe as a freshmen, when you're starting out and those practices are tough and you're trying to build something and maybe you don't see it your freshman year, but then you start to see it maybe your next year?

And then obviously last year.

- We didn't have real good senior leadership, so therefore I was, you know, me Jermaine and a couple of other people who decided just to step up, you know, take that roll because, you know, we don't wanna be a 3-7 or 3-9 team every year.

So we set the bar for the younger kids so they can lead the legacy also.

- [William] Right.

And it wasn't an easy transition.

Howard will be the first one to tell you.

Howard and I didn't get along too well the first year on game days.

We were tough on him, so we coached him to a high level and set high expectations, right from the start.

And so it was rough the first year, right?

It was rough the first year.

I would get under his skin 'cause we would coach him hard, right from the start to his credit and to this other senior's credit, Jermaine and Marcus, some of the other guys that have been here the whole time, they didn't give up or fold that year when it was tough.

They stuck it out and came back the next year and just kept growing from there.

- [Team] Boom!

(players cheering) - [William] Hey, take a knee, let's go.

(whistle blowing) Hey listen real quick.

'Cause I'm gonna go talk to the other side.

Hey, all we're doing is preparing for a real game next week, right?

(coaches shouting) (people cheering) (whistle blowing) - I'm not feeling too good 'cause I'm not feeling, I feel disrespected, I really do.

Because my son done gave too much, I done gave too much.

We've supported too much for it to come to this.

What's the difference from us being over here, then us being over there?

Like this ain't right.

This ain't right.

Yeah this is for the season.

- [Man] This is for the season?

- [Temeka] We already said it.

I ain't gonna have no memories of your senior year.

I can't take pictures.

I ain't got that type of technology.

Take pictures from out here, fence in between us.

This like jail.

This like me coming to see my son on the yard in jail.

(laughing) I'm behind a fence.

But I'm gonna be here.

Rain, sleet, snow.

You're gonna see me right here.

Yelling, "Go son!"

(team hollering) - [Ryan] I'm all for the kids playing.

I think that, you know, I don't take COVID lightly.

I know it's a serious situation that we all need to be focused on.

But I also know that these kids need activities and sports to keep them in the right mindset, keep them focused, keep them healthy, mentally.

You know, I'd rather for them to be out here on the field than to be lingering around in the streets and stuff like that.

(crowd cheering) - [Louis] I'm a little nervous about it, but, they can keep it safe, we can have some fun, kids get something out of it.

To get away from whatever else is going on out there, virtual school is kinda rough.

So this kinda normalize it a little bit.

As long as it's safe.

As long as it's safe.

- It's a tough situation for a lot of people.

There's a lot of people around us in our metro area that are canceling.

You know, if it means that you know no fans in the stands, but the kids still get to be on the field, then we gotta take it.

And hopefully, you know, we can and manage the cases.

(players shouting) (whistle blowing) And then hopefully, you know, that'll be the case in week two, week three hopefully that happens.

(whistle blowing) - [William] Hey, take a knee!

Hey, let's go.

Bring it up, hurry up, we gotta get out of here.

Hey, listen.

Hey, that was fun.

All right?

It was good getting after each other and competing, but now we're on the same team from now on.

Now we're on the same team, all the way to the state championship.

Okay?

No more trash talking about this game.

It was fun to get out, compete, and play a game.

Now we're back on the same team, we're ready to kick St. Joe Ben's ass, right?

- [Team] Yes sir!

- Tigers on three, family on six!

One, two, three.

- [Team] Tigers!

- Four, five, six.

- [Team] Family!

- That was so good for our kids.

Being able to come out and compete like that.

You know what I mean?

On a Friday night, you know?

And to be able to have this many kids, we can play two separate teams, that's what the officiating crew said.

That's crazy.

We got 90 kids and you got, yeah that was like a real game.

- Coach, Louis knew what he was doing.

The score is really 14-3.

The score is really 14-3.

Their defense is trash.

Y'all haven't scored on offense.

We scored two touchdowns on offense.

And you can't tackle.

- I was in your backfield every play.

- [Howard] And still didn't stop me.

- I got two takeaways.

- [Howard] That's it?

- That's it?

You still lost.

Hey you lost, right?

- Get back out there, you make sure you high fiving and tell him get your together, all right?

Hey, you, you gotta step up.

If you're not stepping up, you going back to JV.

That means, when you on the sidelines, you can't be over there playing with your little sophomore friends.

If you wanna come over here to this level.

Do you understand?

I was expecting big things out of you today.

I wanted to see in these two pancakes, you only gave me one.

- Does Chris Harmon get pancake of the day?

- Chris Harmon, though!

- Chris Harmon gets pancake of the day!

- Now, as soon as we can put them all back together and get ready to play, I think we'll be pretty good.

Yeah, we play next Friday.

I'll be excited.

Right here, yeah, we'll play right here.

- These feet make money.

These feet make money.

- You never want the kids to get too cocky though.

You know what I mean?

You always gotta keep them humble.

So this week at practice we'll try to humble them a little bit.

Build up St. Joe (indistinct) especially high school kids.

You know, if they start feeling themselves too much in the games, it's like, you tell them their too good you never know.

- [Director] How are you feeling about the season starting next Friday?

- I feel sorry for the opponent.

And you could see me.

We had a battle with each other.

- [Director] How do you feel about not having anybody in the stands?

- You know it felt, I felt like part of me was gone.

Just like the motivation, just to see my mama's face.

At the end of the day, I gotta do what's best for me.

I'm still a team player.

I can't let that affect me, 'cause I'm still here for my team.

So being a leader, I gotta step up, you know I gotta do what I gotta do.

'Cause if I'm down or feeling bad, you know, I'm not executing plays it's gonna be a (indistinct) affect on the team and I don't want that to happen, so.

I feel like I have high energy, and my mama hype me up even more, 'cause I know she an energetic person.

But I know my mama will always be there to watch me though.

At the end of the day, I know she watching, but physically seeing her, motivates me even more.

(indistinct) It is what it is.

(hip hop music) - [William] My first coaching job actually was a seventh grade C team coach.

So I was coaching junior high.

So the worst of the worst, but taught me a lot about coaching.

I mean, I think we had the best seventh grade C team around.

No doubt.

So I kinda took the opposite route of a lot of coaches.

A lot of coaches would start out in the city, you know, just to get a head coaching job and not really have plans to stay there or build longterm success.

And then they jump to the suburbs or wait for a higher paying job.

But when the Lincoln job opened, you know, I thought if we could do the right thing by kids and be consistent and show them how a program works, it's such a strong academic school that I knew we could be good athletically.

- You know, my initial reaction to him was, you know, he's not a man of big stature when you see Coach Lowe you know, he's not a big dude by any means, but I knew his dad was a Hall of Fame football coach though.

So I knew he came from that football tree and I knew how much he loved the sport.

- So some people are like, well, why don't, you know, after we win a bunch of games, last year, they're like, why don't you take this job?

Why don't you apply for this job?

You know, it's a lot more money.

It's a lot more resources.

You have whatever you need, you get whatever you want, you know, pay whoever you want.

But at the end of the day, like Lincoln is really where I wanna be because we're trying to build a legacy there and do something playoff wise and win a state championship that hasn't been done since, you know, maybe the 50's, I don't even know a date.

I can't give you a date on it.

- I mean, he could've went and coached anywhere based off of his, you know, he's been coaching over 20 years, as far as I know.

So I mean, you know, I'm sure he had other opportunities, but wanting to do something special, wanting to build something of his own, I think is what drove him to stick around Lincoln and take this job.

- [William] For us to bring just pride back to the city and show kids that they don't have to leave or you know, move out to the suburbs or go to a private school.

That's really the narrative we're trying to change.

- [Temeka] I really take my hat off to him because he don't have to be in the inner city.

Like I look at him and I think he's doing a phenomenal job.

Like those boys really respect him.

(coach chattering) I don't even think he's doing it to reconcile anything.

I just think he honestly belongs there.

Have you ever just said, "Okay, he belongs here."

Despite of your background, despite of our stories might be different, our demographics might be different, but you might could be one of us.

(laughing) - You know he's gonna support his players, whether they're good, wrong, or indifferent or whatever, the choices they make, he's gonna support them.

But he also will hold them accountable for the actions that they take.

(whistle blowing) - Hey, have you apologized to your mom yet for being disrespectful at home?

You did?

Okay, tell her to text me how you're doing, okay?

'Cause that way I'll know it's coming from her.

Okay.

Stop giving your mom problems, you got it?

All right, be good okay.

Tell her to text me, 'cause I wanna know how you're doing at home.

Hey, why does your mom call me today about you messing around with guns in your apartment?

You know your mom would give you anything you wanted, right?

So don't you think your mom's kind of worried about you when you do stuff like that?

You know better than that, right?

Your mom would do anything for you and your brothers and give you everything, right?

So you have to know that when you put yourself in that situation.

Didn't you just have a cousin that got killed?

So what are you trying to prove by doing that?

That's only gonna end bad, right?

You're better than that, right?

I'm not gonna make you run tonight, but I told your mama I'm gonna talk to you.

Don't let it happen again 'cause she has my cell number, she's gonna call me and she's gonna check your phone all the time to check for that stuff, you got it?

You're better than that.

I don't wanna see you mess with that stuff anymore.

We good?

- Yeah.

- All right.

Hustle over there.

Hurry up.

- Where did Abu go?

Abu, come here!

Come here, hurry up.

Hurry, sprint over here.

- That's the part of coaching for that people don't see.

That's probably more impactful than what they do on the field.

- Don't let it happen again, you got it?

- Yes sir.

- Next time you're running.

- Yes sir.

- [Rose-Ivey] All right?

We have to make sure we play team defense, all right?

Just stick at the line of scrimmage, play the block.

I promise if we do what we do on defense, our first four series, right, and our offense, do what they do the first four series, we should be up 14 to 21 points, right?

Now we can get after them.

He overthrows a lot of passes when he's around here.

So fellas, like if we're bringing pressure off the edge, just, I want you to don't stop running, hit him square in the mouth.

But again, they're gonna turn the ball over, right?

If we get opportunity, let's go score.

All right?

That was big for us last year.

Here we go, another one that fumbles from Hogan, okay?

Just take it from him, get it out.

We gotta take advantage of this fellas.

I promise you, we have to work on this.

Right?

So again, like I told you guys yesterday, right on Tuesday, right, if we don't get five forced fumbles, and fumble recoveries, right.

we're running out the practice.

It's gotta be an emphasis, right?

There's gotta be emphasis.

Get the ball out this week and practice, work on it.

- Listen we go in the weight room, you're doing single arm incline bench.

We're doing hang cleans, we haven't done hang cleans for a long time.

(hip hop music) (weights dropping) (rap music) - When you have an environment like this environment now that where kids start saying, "Well, I don't need to go be away from the kids I grew up with to get an opportunity, or I don't need to go to a school where I'm, you know, the minority."

And you know, for a lot of kids, that's an uncomfortable process 'cause you know why you're there.

You know what I mean?

Like if they come recruit you, you're there to play football.

You're there to play basketball.

So you're just that, instead of being surrounded by people that look like you and you know, that they value you just for who you are.

(weights slamming) - [Howard] I'm the fastest player on the team.

They wrote "Black Lives Matter" in white.

No somebody put "White Lives Matter" though.

And they put the B in front of it.

That's crazy.

You see that, coach?

- [Howard] I first met Coach Lowe when he was enrolling his kids into Allen Village.

And that's where I was working for summer.

- All right, let's go.

You guys ready?

(teammates chattering) - If I asked him like, "can you open up the gate for me to get some extra work in on the field?"

He'll like stop what he doing, come open it and stuff like that.

So like he really treat me like I'm his son, for real.

Not even just football, but like academic wise, he'll come and check on me.

Make sure my grades is good, help me if I need anything.

- All right, here we go.

Line up at the pole, get ready here goes number one.

- [Player] The pole?

What pole?

- Right there.

You gotta sprint the whole way.

(whistle blowing) This hill is like a Lincoln tradition.

It's not just us.

It started, shoot, since that school has been there.

Every sports team does it, not just football.

- I catch y'all slow ass in some slides and I'll give them a head start.

Let's go.

Let's go.

We in the slippers.

- [Howard] Every time we talk, it's not about football, but it just lets you know, he not only care about football and my future about football, but like just me as a person and becoming a man.

- A pro is always on.

This is an opportunity to show how much of a professional you wanna become.

- I don't know about you, but it's the day before a game, cuh.

- How are you feeling right now for real?

- Man, I don't know.

I feel good.

- You got something to prove out there, or what?

- Man, on Friday's I'm a different player.

I'm gonna show you boys something.

15 tabs, two touchdowns.

Remember that.

I'ma stand on it.

At all times.

- In the end zone.

How do we not know where to line up?

We play tomorrow!

We can't even line up!

Go to the end zone!

They're not gonna wait on you tomorrow!

(whistle blowing) - But if you come out here and bull around, you're showing how much of an amateur you are and your coach that puts you're on the bench.

But if you really desire something, you gotta dig deep dog.

Dig deep.

When it was time for me to get my child out of foster care, it wasn't nobody around that looked like me.

My man, you got dreams?

Quarterback.

Because this whole team is following you.

So you gotta be a leader amongst men.

(whistle blowing) - Everything you do in practice is gonna translate to the games.

And I don't know if you guys know, but everybody is out to get you now.

Last year, oh it was a cute story.

Lincoln's 11-1.

Everybody's a fan.

Well, now everybody hates you.

Okay?

So if you wanna go 11-0 again or 15-0 and win a state championship, you better keep that chip on your shoulder and be ready to go tomorrow night.

Okay?

- [Ryan] I need y'all to win this year, man.

There's been too many people that say, man, they was this close.

I was here last year at the game you lost.

I felt that like I was playing.

I don't wanna see y'all lose.

Y'all got potential.

I wanna see somebody from the hood, win a championship.

What time the game, seven o'clock?

Where it at?

- [Team] Here.

- [Ryan] I'll be here.

I wanna see y'all win.

I wanna see a title this year.

I wanna see a title this year 'cause y'all got it.

And they're, like you're coach said, everybody's looking at y'all.

So now it's time to show out.

(heart beating) - [Announcer] Welcome to the broadcast of Blue Tiger football fans.

(rap music) (fan shouting) - [William] There's thousands of high school kids right now that would love to be in your spot.

Do not waste it by taking a play off.

I don't care what the score is.

Every single play dominate the guy across from you.

Every ball we throw, catch it.

Every run we make, break tackles.

- [Announcer] We're getting ready for a kickoff here.

- Who is gonna get a big star behind the name tonight?

Who's going to get recruited?

Tonight is your night.

Who's gonna get recruited tonight?

All right, here we go.

- Let's go Blue Tigers!

- [William] Defense, be ready.

Let's go.

- [Howard] Game time, baby.

(team chanting) (team chanting) - [Team] Boom!

Let's go!

(rap music)