Ray Lingard has been a lacrosse player at Quincy University since 2020 . He has excelled in his role and has grown into a key player for the hawks.

Through these last two seasons he has had to learn to balance the grind of an NCAA sport while keeping on top of academics. Thanks to the introduction of sprint football to the university, Lingard has decided to ramp up the challenge and play both sports simultaneously.

While Lingard prepares to handle a hectic fall schedule, he couldn’t be more excited to get back into the sport he loves.

“I heard about sprint football my freshman year coming here, coach Ruppel had told me about it… (football) has always been my first love since the age of four. I continue to keep playing it and I love football from the bottom of my heart so I’m going to keep playing it. The competition is there and I love it and I’ve been playing it for so long no matter how long I’m out the sport I can put pads on today and nothing is new,” Lingard said.

Lingard has not strapped up for a true football game since his last game in high school at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, Mo. During his tenure he racked up first team all-conference and all-district middle linebacker and also getting second team all-conference running back.

While his dream was a football scholarship, many schools looked at him for his skills in lacrosse, eventually landing in Quincy’s radar. Tim Madden is the assistant coach of men’s lacrosse.

“I met Ray the second practice, so last January. He didn’t say anything for about three weeks but he was an absolute freak of nature on the field. I heard very early on about his football prowess back in St. Louis and I think it’s awesome that he’s getting to play again. I think football will always be his first love and then we’re just happy that he plays with us too,” Madden said.

While Lingard continued to impress his coaches on the lacrosse field, he always yearned to put the pads back on and get to play collegiate football. So much that even his teammates knew it was a great opportunity when sprint football came around.

“I knew from day one when I met Ray that he wanted to play football. He always talked about his high school days and how he would burn someone if we put the pads on. But honestly I can’t wait to see him play, it’s already hard enough handling him in lacrosse and I feel bad for his opponents in sprint football.

As Lingard continues to prepare for the sprint football season opener vs Fontbonne University in September, he still participates in all lacrosse activities and enjoys getting the extra workout.