College Football Preview: Lincoln University Lions

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The 2017 college football season for the Division II Lincoln University Lions will begin on Saturday, September 2nd on the road in the annual "Battle of the Firsts" against Cheyney University.

Lincoln, located in Chester County, is coming off a 1-9 2016 season. The Lions have a new interim head coach here in 2017 in Reginald Byarse Jr. and he likes what he has seen so far in training camp.

"It's been going pretty well," Byarse tells KYW Newsradio about preseason camp. "The guys are working hard, they're earning everything and they are chomping at the bit to get going."

Byarse by the way is just 29-years-old and the youngest head coach in Division II football. He talks about some strengths that have emerged here in the early days of camp.

"Defensive backfield looks pretty stout," he says. "We have a couple of 6'1" guys and over and they're ball hawks and they're all over the field. Also our defensive line, we have some studs up there. They're in the weight room two or three times a day and they're just ready to go."

Offensively, Byarse says he hasn't yet settled on a starting quarterback.

"It's an open competition," he says. "But we have a few guys fighting for the spot."

Byarse says the decision could go all the way down to Week #1. The coach talks about the offense the Lions will run in 2017.

"Right now we're tinkering with a few things," he says. "We're looking at some option, we're looking at some veer. So we're just keeping our options open. Depending on which [quarterback] wins out, we're going to use his talent set to build around and we're going to go from there."

Lincoln is a member of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Lincoln's opener with Cheyney will kickoff at 1:00pm on September 2nd.