It’s not often these days that Lincoln Williams can stroll about Kankakee without drawing attention. At 6-foot-7, he’d stick out as it is, but after surging up to become the state’s top-ranked basketball recruit in the Class of 2026, he’s become one of the most prolific student-athletes to don Columbia blue and maroon in any sport.

And almost wherever he goes, he’s reminded of that.

“I can walk anywhere – the gas station, the dollar store, Walmart – and see people telling me what to do, how to do this, asking me where I’m going to go to college,” Williams said. “It can be a lot of pressure to put on a 17-year-old kid. I think I handle it well in certain situations in public. You might see me out in public trying to be active in my community. It’s not a lot of pressure, but it definitely can be.”

But also with the attention of an IBCA Class 3A All-State, Southland Athletic Conference MVP and Daily Journal Co-Player of the Year junior campaign comes the adoration of the community’s youth. And that is something Williams relishes.

“I always want to tell the kids to just stay on the right path and just enjoy it,” Williams said. “Middle school, grade school, junior high school, it goes by fast. Us five were just at Kennedy (Middle School) playing five-on-five at the park, so I tell the kids to just enjoy it. All that stuff is just memories now. I wish I could go back but I can’t.”

The five Williams spoke of are himself and classmates Cedric Terrell III, Myair Thompson, Kenaz Jackson and EJ Hazelett. The former of the four are lifelong friends while Hazelett has returned to Kankakee, where he spent part of his childhood, after four years in Indiana.

After Williams, Thompson and Terrell III attended Kennedy and Jackson was across town at King as sixth graders, the only year all five played on the same IESA team was the 2020-21 season that had no State Series due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hazelett and his family moved to his native Indiana when his dad, at-the-time football defensive coordinator Ed Hazelett, took a job back in the Hoosier State.

But when Ed Hazelett became the football team’s new head coach last February, the Kankakee core knew it would finally get a run at a championship together just in time for graduation.

“It’s like a reunion,” Terrell III said. “Seventh grade was going to be a big year for us to go downstate, for sure. Now that we’re back, we’re even better, even bigger. I’ve got us against anybody.”

Williams (19 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, two blocks per game in 2024-25) and Jackson (10 ppg, four rpg) are back as starting wings while Thompson (12 ppg, five apg) are back as All-Southland starters, Thompson joining Williams on the All-State team as a special mention. Terrell III will go from sixth-man and spot-starter spark to starting shooting guard while EJ Hazelett, a 6-foot-7 Indiana State signee, will patrol the frontcourt for a Kays team that went 25-6, shared the Southland title with Rich Township and earned the fifth regional title the program’s claimed since head coach Chris Pickett took over in 2017-18.

When the Hazelett family had moved away, the Kays were in the early stages of their program upswing under Pickett. Four years, three regional plaques and a 97-30 record later, EJ Hazelett has been amazed to see the growth in the program, as well as the improvements made to the facilities.

“It’s definitely pretty cool,” he said. “The gym and the fieldhouse (Dr. Genevra Walters Community Center) wasn’t here, and just seeing the new stuff here, how well the program has gone, how well Lincoln and the guys have all grown, it’s definitely good.”

They know that as their profile rises this season, so does the target they have on their backs. That could be in the competitive Southland or in a nonconference space that has the Kays in tilts with state powers like DePaul Prep, East St. Louis and Mount Carmel, as well as other regional and national matchups both before and after they look to defend their Kankakee Holiday Tournament title.

“We just have to keep going hard in practice, keep doing what we do and play as a team,” Jackson said. “We’ve been playing together since we were little, so we have great team chemistry. We just trust our coaches.”

They’re not shy about their expectations of bringing home the program’s first-ever state championship, the same goal that they had last winter. After surging ahead by a dozen points late in their Class 3A Washington Sectional semifinal against Metamora, they saw the Redbirds extend a 12-0 run that forced overtime into a 20-0 run that handed the Kays a stunning end to their 2024-25 season.

For Williams, last season is old news and the way it ended can quickly be forgotten about, with all sights set on the task ahead. For Thompson, who Pickett calls the “straw that stirs our drink,” last year’s finale is firmly entrenches in his memory.

“Grind. That’s the word,” Thompson said. “When March happened, for my seniors, especially (Eli) Stipp, I don’t want to have that feeling again. All it’s been is just grinding. ... I use it as fuel. I use it as fuel, for sure.”

Pickett wants the group to learn from last year, but not overthink it. Instead, they’ll look to continue building on the foundation they already have in place, and if it all goes to plan, they’ll provide a moment the city’s never seen before.

“We’ve talked about us coming off the exit of I-57 and coming up Court St. to a parade of people,” Pickett said. “That’s a dream of ours. As a coach, I told them yesterday, there’s going to be a little tyrant in me as a coach because I want them to do everything possible to achieve that goal. If we achieve that goal, they’ll thank me.”