By Rubin E. Grant After two consecutive 10-win seasons and a trip to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs for the first time in 13 years in 2018, the Homewood Patriots are rebuilding in 2019. The Patriots have to replace 16 starters, including 10 on defense. In addition, most of their reserves last year were seniors, so they’re gone, too. “We lost a lot of three-year … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant The Hoover Bucs are not just hungering to get back on top in Class 7A. Their desire is much stronger than that. “It’s not about being hungry,” Hoover coach Josh Niblett said. “We’re starving. When you’re starving it means you’ve got to have it. We’re starving to be where we need to be and that’s the standard we’ve set.” Hoover lost to Thompson in the 2018 … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant Logan Colafrancesco did some self-evaluation after the John Carroll Cavaliers suffered through a miserable 1-9 season in 2018. “As a coach, I thought about what I needed to fix for us to get better,” Colafrancesco said. “I decided to go back to some old-school stuff I learned. We revamped our offseason program so we could get bigger and stronger and get in a … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant When Mountain Brook coach Chris Yeager says the Spartans have a lot of “shoes to fill” this season, it’s not just coachspeak. The Spartans graduated 36 seniors who led the team to a 9-3 record and a second-round playoff berth in 2018. “We’ve got a big, big challenge facing us,” Yeager said. “We lost a lot of good players. It’s a lot to replace. “The spring … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant As Oak Mountain coach Cris Bell discusses his 2019 football team, one thing readily apparent is the Eagles’ youthfulness. “We’re going to be young,” Bell said. “We have only 17 seniors on the roster. Our two-deep depth chart is littered with 10th and 11th graders.” Despite their lack of experience, the Eagles are looking to bounce back from a 2-8 season in … [Read more...]