Hillcrest High School's Eric Bailey takes part in 34th Annual Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Game

Hillcrest High School's Eric Bailey.

Big congratulations this week go out to Hillcrest High School’s Eric Bailey, who served as the All-Sar Percussion Instructor for Alabama’s All-Star Marching Band, which performed during Saturday’s 34^th Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Classic at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery.

Bailey, who is assistant band director and percussion director at Hillcrest, is widely known for his outstanding musical talents and abilities. He was selected to instruct the all-star band’s percussion section this year because of his long and impressive musical resume. Not only is he a composer for Devmusic Co. and J.W. Pepper, he is also a highly sought-after percussion instructor, who travels widely during the summer teaching percussion camps.

To date, Bailey has taken part in well over 100 summer band and percussion camps and has judged band and percussion competitions all over the Southeast, including contests in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Bailey is also beloved by many of his former students, including students who have gone on to play in college marching bands in such places as Auburn University, Troy University, the University of South Alabama, Alabama A&M, Alabama State and the University of West Alabama.

I’ve known Mr. Bailey for years and was proud to see him get selected to participate in this year’s all-star game in Montgomery. Hillcrest is lucky to have him, and he sets a great example for everyone he encounters. He is enthusiastic about his work, always has a smile on his face and is just an all-around good man to be around. Bailey, a native of Century, Fla., is married to Angela Meeks Bailey, and they have one daughter, 14-year-old Aunnie Bailey.

By the way, Alabama won this year’s all-star game, 19-7, ending a three-year drought against the Mississippi All-Stars. If you enjoy high school football and have never been to this all-star game, I highly recommend it. You’ll not only see some of the top high school seniors in the state, but you’ll also get the chance to see players who will become big stars in college and eventually in the NFL.

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The 12th weekend of the SEC football season closed out on Saturday, and college football fans had five conference games to enjoy as the regular season draws close to an end.

This week, we’ve got five SEC games lined up for Saturday, including the SEC Championship Game, presuming one or more don’t get cancelled due to COVID-19: Alabama v. Florida, Vanderbilt at Georgia, Texas A&M at Tennessee, Ole Miss at LSU and Missouri at Mississippi State.

For what it’s worth, here are my predictions for that slate of games. I like Alabama over Florida, Georgia over Vandy, Texas A&M over Tennessee, LSU over Ole Miss and Missouri over Mississippi State. (Last week: 4-1. So far this season: 47-14)

Alabama will meet Florida in the SEC Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. That game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m., and it will be televised nationally by CBS. As of Monday afternoon, Alabama was favored by 17 points in that game.