NFL playoffs set to start this weekend, Saints to play the Vikings

Big congratulations this week to Hillcrest High School’s Cam Riley for being named as a finalist for the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A Lineman of the Year Award. As far as I know, Riley is the only player in Hillcrest history to be named as a finalist for this award, which also puts him in the running for this year’s Mr. Football Award. (If you know of any other past nominees from Hillcrest, please let me know.)

Big things are ahead for Riley, who is headed off to Auburn to play football next fall. He follows in a line of Evergreen players to play at Auburn, including Bob Meeks and Wayne Frazier. Don’t be surprised if you see Riley playing in the NFL four or five years down the road.

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Speaking of the NFL, the Saints put a beat-down on the Carolina Panthers in their regular season finale on Sunday, 42-10. Drew Brees and the rest of the Saints seem to be peaking at the right time, and I look for them to win it all this year. In the NFC, their biggest challenge looks to be the 49ers, who beat the Saints earlier this year. I hope that New Orleans can get rested up and get some of their banged up guys back in time to make a difference in the playoffs.

One big question on everyone’s mind is whether Brees retire after this season. He’s over 40 years old and no doubt will be a Hall of Famer someday. Brees and Tom Brady are neck and neck for the all-time career touchdown record, so Brees may hold off his retirement to ensure that he’ll keep that record for years to come.

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Local high school basketball action will enter the second half of the season this week and things will start to get serious as our local varsity teams get into area play. All of our local teams, regardless of their records at this point, have a good shot of winning their areas this season, and local fans have a lot of good basketball to look forward to. Of all our local teams, Hillcrest’s varsity boys look to have the best shot of making the state tournament and could end up winning it all.

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The new classifications for AHSAA schools were announced a couple of weeks ago and several local fans have asked me if I think dropping from 4A to 3A will help Hillcrest. The simple answer is that it should, but they’ll still have to compete against traditionally strong opponents in football like Flomaton, T.R. Miller and others. Hillcrest fared pretty well the past two football seasons in 4A, and I expect them to do the same next year in 3A.

The key at Hillcrest is for the coaching staff to remain intact. The group of coaches at Hillcrest nowadays is perhaps the finest group to ever work on campus at the same time. Clinton Smith is a future Hall of Famer, and a number of his assistants are also about as good as they come.