Entering his fourth season as a starting linebacker, Tiquan Canady knows Kinston football.
Although the Vikings are under a new head coach this season in Ryan Gieselman, Canady doesn’t think the team will change in terms of winning.
He says they’ve still got it.
“We work hard, and we know what it takes to win,” Canady said. “We keep fighting, and we keep playing.”
Gieselman is Kinston’s leader this season after two years as an assistant coach to Nick Anderson, who is now coaching in Virginia. Although Gieselman’s position is different, Canady believes the Vikings still have an advantage in their first-year coach.
“We didn’t lose anything, because he’s been around,” Canady said. “He stepped in and picked it up.”
Gieselman takes over a Kinston team that finished 7-5 last year and went to the second round of the NCHSAA playoffs. Although 19 seniors graduated last year, a few key players return for the Vikings, including Canady.
The staff will focus on keeping him healthy, and the linebacker is ahead of the game as Gieselman said he’s spent the summer in the weight room. Canady will start at wide receiver as well.
He gained interest in football after watching Kinston/Lenoir County Parks and Recreation Department programs. The senior also plays Kinston basketball but prefers the gridiron over the court.
“It’s physical,” Canady said about football. “You just play and you don’t have to worry about getting fouled for hitting anyone.”
With 2013 being his final season, he plans to “go all out.” After graduation, he is hoping to pursue a college football career at one of the North Carolina schools.
In the meantime, his last season will be fueled by the Vikings’ 2011 championship run — his favorite memory of Kinston football.
This year, he’ll help lead the Vikings in the newly-aligned Eastern Carolina 2A conference.
“A lot of people out here look up to me because I’ve been around the program for a very long time,” Canady said. “(The conference) should be interesting. The one we were in before, it was a running conference, but now it’s spread out. It should be to our advantage.”
Kinston opens tonight at Jones Senior, a team in the Coastal Plains 1A. Many Trojans have to play both sides of the ball, as do the Vikes.
“Right now, we’re very small,” Canady said. “We condition hard and it’s a lot of people going both ways.”
He said the team has one thing in mind as it does every year: Winning a championship.
“The team goal is to get the ring; we’re ring chasing,” Canady said. “We’re a family out here, so we play for each other every Friday.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 and Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.
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Canady's final season
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