(Cedar Rapids) It took a few years, but Lane Lawson has found a home on the Coe College football team.
The versatile Audubon alum had tried multiple positions for the the KoHawk defense. Eventually cornerback stuck. “After a bunch of change and rotation throughout the defensive side of the ball, I finally got stuck down in one location for my senior year and my COVID year. This past spring I kind of started transitioning over to cornerback and ended up falling in love with it. Just being able to be all over the field and use my speed to my advantage.”
Lawson saw a lot of playing time as a corner last year before suffering a season ending arm injury. He says after a pair of interceptions during the first practice of spring ball the coaches decided to make corner a permanent role for Lawson. “It kind of finally came down to when I had meetings with coaches where they thought was the opportunity for me to get the most minutes as possible. Going into last year I ended up playing quite a bit and then I ended up tearing a muscle in my arm. We tried a week out at practice where I played just strictly cornerback. I studied the playbook and went forward with it and bought in.”
Listed at 6’1″ 178 pounds he’s had to change the focus of his training. “I’ve noticed a lot more running and doing agility things when I used to be just doing a lot more lifting and mass building. It’s just a whole different routine for me. Going into my fourth year here it kind of shook me up a little bit, but it’s an exciting process and one I look forward to growing in. Overall it’s been going pretty well.”
Expectations are to win a conference title. “I know there are some pretty good teams. We have a lot returning. We know if we can have some of the younger guys step up we are looking good. Everybody’s expectation is to come in and win a conference championship. I think we have all the key pieces to do it.”
He’ll be a senior in eligibility this fall, but plans to play for two more years. Lawson played in three games as a junior and registered seven tackles.
Audubon grad Lane Lawson:
