Lincoln Prep’s Connor Mewhinney Leads Arizona in Receiving Yards
Lincoln Prep September 11, 2025 -
Connor Mewhinney, a sophomore and varsity football player at Lincoln Prep, is currently sitting at #1 in the state of Arizona and 102nd nationally for receiving yards in week three of the high school season. Mewhinney’s performance last Friday night was one to remember as he tallied six receptions, 173 yards, and four receiving touchdowns.
While he is excited to see his name on top of the leaderboard, Mewhinney’s remains humble about the recognition. “Football’s not an individual sport. It’s a team sport,” he shared. “So, when one of us does well, we all worked to earn that. To me, this says that our team is working hard and everyone’s doing their job well. It motivates me to keep working hard and leave everything on the field every time I’m out there.”
Mewhinney recognizes much of his success is due to the guys throwing the ball, quarterbacks Cash Luce and Karson Smith. “Both Cash and Karson are new quarterbacks, this year, so they’ve been working incredibly hard to be ready for each game,” he said. “Sometimes the receivers and QBs stay after practice or get together on Saturdays to give extra focus to our timing. We know that chemistry is important and it’s really good to see all our hard work paying off.”
Besides his fellow Lincoln Prep Lightning teammates that he says feels like family, Mewhinney credits his coaches for his success out on the field. “My coaches have been extremely helpful in making me become more effective in my techniques and skills through the lifting program with Coach Brillhart, one-on-one work with Coach Garcia through Football IQ Academy, developing competency and confidence in my position with Coach Yourkoski, and just showing up every day ready to work hard on whatever Coach Schubring plans for the team,” he explained. “Basically, a lot of hard work by a lot of people.”
Coach Paul Schubring believes Mewhinney is an exemplary player. “He’s a lead by example, and it’s great to essentially just point at him and tell our young guys, ‘Do everything this kid does.’ He’s a competitor, he works hard before games in film, nutrition, and recovery to be as prepared as possible, and his game changing abilities on both sides is a huge benefit as a coach,” he said. “He’s already a key leader as a sophomore on our team, and a lot of that is because of everything we ask him to do on Friday nights.”
Mewhinney combines mental strength, discipline, and physical ability to excel on the field. “He’s tall… But he’s also very fast and can blow by defensive backs with speed that is not common in kids his height,” added Schubring. “He catches the ball with strong forearms, and he has good body control as well.”
His parents say it’s exhilarating to watch him play. They can tell he loves the game, and he loves his team. “The day he came home from his first practice with the team, he said he’d never worked so hard in his whole life, and he couldn’t wait to go back the next day. His excitement and love of it makes you love it too,” they shared. But this football star doesn’t get a free ride at home. “We also challenge him to ‘do hard things’ and do all things with excellence, whether it’s sports or school or his chores. He’s an incredibly hard worker.”
Mewhinney wants to continue to grow with his team this season as they continue to build the program with a relatively young team. And while he still has a few years before high school graduation, he already has his sights set on playing Division I football in college. “Personally, it feels like God has given me a gift to play football with passion,” shared Mewhinney. “And I want to continue doing that as long as God will allow me to.”
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