Conecuh native played high school football with Heisman Trophy winner

Chris Rabb, left, with Steve Savarese.

Just about every sports fan in the reading audience this week knows that Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston was named the winner of the Heisman Trophy Saturday night in New York City.

What most folks might not know is that he has somewhat of a connection to Conecuh County.

Winston, who at age 19 is the youngest player to ever win the Heisman, played his high school ball at Hueytown High School near Birmingham. His senior season, Winston was named The Birmingham News Metro Player of the Year, and his teammate, fellow senior Chris Rabb, was named The Birmingham News Metro Lineman of the Year. Rabb, who attended Evergreen Elementary School through the second grade, is the son of Terrell Rabb of Evergreen and the grandson of Ivie Rabb of Evergreen.

While Winston went on to sign with the Seminoles, Rabb signed with the University of Alabama-Birmingham, where he has starred as an outstanding defensive end for the Blazers. With Winston and Rabb on the roster, Hueytown had one of their best teams in years in 2011, but when The Birmingham News asked Winston to rate the Hueytown’s best player, Winston put the spotlight on Rabb. Winston said he believes Rabb was better than any of the defensive players in the 2011 Alabama-Mississippi High School All-Star Football Classic.

“Look at our defense,” Winston told The Birmingham News. “We don’t have anyone that runs a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash. But we had that man with Chris Rabb in the middle that gets in the backfield and disrupts it all to stop plays before they get started.

“We’d have still won a lot of games without me. We wouldn’t have won a lot of games without Chris Rabb.”

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If you look elsewhere on this week’s sports page, you’ll see a story about the first statewide high school basketball poll for this season. All four varsity basketball teams got a mention in this week’s poll, with three making the Top 10 in their respective classes. There are few counties in the state who can boast of having four teams mentioned in the basketball poll, and this fact speaks to the quality of high school basketball played in Conecuh County. Here’s hoping that the local coaches and players continue to work hard as the season progresses because in basketball what counts most is how you’re playing at the end of the season.

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The NFL regular season schedule is nearing an end, and Week 16 will officially kick off on Sunday this week instead of tonight (Thursday). Fifteen games are set for Sunday and this year’s final Monday night game will feature the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers.

On Sunday, I like Miami over Buffalo, Carolina over New Orleans, Dallas over Washington, St. Louis over Tampa Bay, Philadelphia over Chicago, the New York Jets over Cleveland, Kansas City over Indianapolis, Cincinnati over Minnesota, Denver over Houston, Tennessee over Jacksonville, Seattle over Arizona, Detroit over the New York Giants, San Diego over Oakland, Green Bay over Pittsburgh and Baltimore over New England. In the Monday night game, I like San Francisco over Atlanta. Last week: 9-7. So far this season: 151-73.