Clinton Smith is a rising star among Alabama's prep football coaches

Clinton Smith, right, receives game ball after 3A title game.

There is no doubt that Hillcrest head football coach Clinton Smith is a rising star among the state’s high school football coaches.

As evidence I offer up the fact that Smith was among the keynote speakers at the Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association Lunch and Learn Mini-Clinic this past Friday at the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Office in Montgomery. After lunch on Friday, Smith presented a program called “Building a Championship Program from the Ground Up,” explaining how he took a Hillcrest program that finished 4-7 in 2014 to the Class 3A state championship just three years later.

I hope that Smith stays at Hillcrest for a long, long time, but it’s also obvious to me that others outside of Conecuh County are taking note of his talents and abilities. I personally feel that Smith is destined for a lot more success, and I won’t be surprised to see him coaching a college team someday. Sometimes you just know a rising star when you see one, and Smith certainly fits the bill in my book.

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Smith also released this week Hillcrest’s football schedule for next season, and local football fans have a lot to look forward to. This year’s schedule features a number of familiar opponents, including tradition rivals like Greenville, W.S. Neal, Escambia County, Andalusia, T.R. Miller and Monroe County High. The only team on next year’s schedule that Hillcrest has never played before is Williamson High School, which is located on East Dublin Street in Mobile.

Williamson competed in Class 4A, Region 1 last season and posted a 7-4 record under head coach Dedrick Sumpter. Last season, Williamson finished fourth in their region and their only regular season losses came against region opponents St. Paul’s, Jackson and Vigor. Demopolis beat Williamson 21-0 in the first round of the playoffs, putting them out of the running for the state title.

Hillcrest will play Williamson in Evergreen this coming season, but the Hillcrest-Williamson game in 2019 will be one that you’ll want to circle on your calendar. Traditionally, Williamson has played all of its home games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile. This is the same stadium that hosts the annual Senior Bowl game, and it’s also the home stadium for the University of South Alabama’s football team.

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Of course, I would be remiss this week if I closed this thing out without mentioning the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, which officially tipped off with two play-in games on Tuesday. Like millions of other basketball fans on Monday, I filled out a bracket and (for what it’s worth) I’ve got North Carolina winning it all. The “Magic Eight Ball” also completed a bracket and that piece of inanimate plastic picked Virginia to win it all, which is entirely possible given that Virginia is the No. 1 seed in the South Regional bracket.

Unusual this year is the fact that Alabama and Auburn are both in the tournament for the first time in many, many years. Even though Alabama beat Auburn in the SEC tournament last week, I look for Auburn to make a deeper run in the NCAA tournament. The only way they could play each other in the tournament is if they both make the Final Four. While that would be really cool, I wouldn’t count on it.