Alabama News

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every day until Aug. 29, Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.

Alabama has fielded a football team in all but two seasons since the program’s founding in 1892, and both times a world war played a role in the sport’s absence from campus.

In 1918, a combination of the United States’ entry into World War I and the Spanish flu epidemic made football an afterthought at Alabama and on dozens of other college campuses around the country. In 1943, the second full year of American involvement in World War II resulted in the depletion — or redirection — of manpower and the temporary (at least official) disbandment of the Crimson Tide.

Alabama was founded as a military school in 1831, though much of that legacy was gone by the 1940s. However, scores of former and future Alabama students — including several directly or indirectly involved with the football team — joined the war effort.

Perhaps the most notable of those is Hugh Miller, a part-time starting quarterback on Alabama’s 1930 Rose Bowl championship team who went on to become a decorated U.S. Navy officer during the war. Lt. Miller — a Tuscaloosa native known as “Rose Bowl” by fellow Navy men due to his football background — was shipwrecked when the U.S.S. Strong was sunk by a Japanese submarine on the night of July 4-5, 1943.

Miller and three others eventually swam ashore in the Solomon Islands, and hid from Japanese troops for several days while recovering from wounds suffered during their ordeal. The most severely injured, Miller eventually convinced the other three to leave him behind, and they were never heard from again.

Miller survived, recovering a grenade, a bayonet and some rice from a dead Japanese soldier who had washed ashore, and also eating coconuts to sustain himself. According to accounts, he killed as many as 15 enemy soldiers before being reunited with American forces 39 days later.

Miller was awarded a total of 38 medals and other citations for his war service, including the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, six Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. He remained in the Navy after the war, retiring as a captain before dying at age 68 in 1978.

Miller’s story is one of dozens documented in the 2012 book All of Us Fought the War, written by Delbert Reed and published by the Paul W. Bryant Museum. Also featured is Don Salls, starting fullback and team captain of Alabama’s 1941 national championship and Orange Bowl-winning team.

Salls served in the Army during the war, receiving a Purple Heart after being wounded during combat in France. After returning to Alabama, he was a teacher and head football coach for several decades at Jacksonville State, which named its athletics dorm after him in 1966.

Salls was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. He died in 2021 at age 101, making him the longest-lived letterman in Crimson Tide football history.

Cary Cox and Holt Rast were teammates at Alabama in the late 1930s, and later served with distinction in the U.S. Army during the war. Cox was part of the Allied campaign in North Africa in 1942, and earned the Bronze Star for bravery during the invasion of Sicily the following year.

Rast — an All-America end at Alabama in 1941 — served in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany, and was twice wounded during combat, earning the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster among many other accolades. After returning to Alabama, he became one of Birmingham’s most-prominent businessmen and helped found the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Bill Cadenhead had enrolled at Alabama and played on the Crimson Tide freshman team in 1942, but left school to join the Navy the following year and served on the three different submarines in the Pacific. He returned to Alabama in 1946 and re-joined the football team, and was elected team captain as a senior in 1949.

(Former Alabama end and future head football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant served in the U.S. Navy during the war, though he did not see combat action. In one of college football history’s great “what ifs,” Bryant had been offered the head-coaching job at the University of Arkansas in early December 1941, but turned down the job and joined the Navy after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor a few days later.)

Bert Bank never played football at Alabama, but was producer of the team’s games on the radio for decades and in 1953 founded what is now the Crimson Tide Sports Network. His war story is perhaps even more harrowing than of Miller.

A second lieutenant in the 27th Bombing Group of the U.S. Army Air Force, Bank was captured by Japanese troops during the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines and survived 33 months as a prisoner of war. In April 1942, he lived through the infamous Bataan Death March — a nine-day forced transfer of U.S. and Filipino prisoners some 65 miles along a jungle peninsula, during which an estimated 18,000 died of disease, starvation or exhaustion.

Banks spent nearly three years in a number of Japanese prison camps under the harshest of conditions — given only minimal food and often forced to drink water from mudholes — until he was finally rescued by U.S. Army Rangers in January 1945. Bank himself lost more than 50 pounds, and fewer than half of the men in his unit survived the ordeal.

“Men were skin and bones,” Bank later recalled. “The average weight was 85 to 90 pounds. A lot of men didn’t want to live; they just gave up.”

Bank retired from the Air Force — which became a separate branch of the military in 1947 — with the rank of major after the war, and lived to age 94. In addition to his radio work, he also served in both the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives.

Alabama did field an unofficial football team in 1943, with tackle Mitch Olenski serving as head coach. With a roster made up of 17-year-olds and draft-deferred students, the Alabama Informals, as they were called, went 2-1 in a schedule featuring one game vs. Birmingham’s Howard College (now Samford) and two vs. Marion Military Institute (the Informals are not considered a varsity Crimson Tide team and their records are not counted by the school).

The war had turned in the Allies’ favor by late 1943, and the following year Alabama football returned to the field along with most of its SEC rivals. Many former and future U.S. servicemen have played for the Crimson Tide in the years since, but the football team has continued on uninterrupted.

Special thanks to Brad Green of the Paul W. Bryant Museum for research and photo assistance. In addition, thanks to reader Tim Ferguson for suggesting Hugh Miller as one of this story’s subjects.

Coming Saturday: Our countdown to kickoff continues with No. 42, the number worn by two great Alabama running backs from different eras.

Alabama Library Censorship Debate

A state library board member accused colleagues of using their positions to advance political careers while pushing to ban books with “positive portrayals of transgender people” from children’s sections.

Ron Snider, former board president, directly called out the censorship efforts during a heated meeting where the board voted to begin changing state code to further restrict materials.

Anna Beahm reports that board chairman John Wahl has already told libraries that materials pertaining to “gender ideology” would jeopardize their funding.

Homewood protests

Black Lives Matter Birmingham is threatening to “shut Homewood down” with boycotts and demonstrations unless police release video footage of 18-year-old Jabari Peoples’ fatal shooting by an officer.

“We will not shop where we are shot. We will not dine where we are denied justice,” said Wayne T. Harris at a city council meeting,reports AL.com.

Mayor Alex Wyatt has asked state investigators to show the video to Peoples’ family.

ICE Detentions of U.S. Citizens

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) advised Americans detained in ICE raids to “don’t put yourself in a situation where that happens.”

His comments came after U.S. Army veteran George Retes was wrongfully detained for three days.

AL.com reports Tuberville suggested citizens who are “hanging around people that are not citizens” risk detention during immigration enforcement operations.

Nick Saban retirement

Kristen Saban shut down rumors of her father’s coaching comeback in an Instagram post, stating “He’s not coming back to coaching, hate to break it to you.”

The speculation began when former Alabama QB Greg McElroy mentioned hearing Saban might not be done coaching, despite retiring in January.

Nick Bamman reports the 73-year-old former coach will likely continue his Emmy-winning role on ESPN’s College GameDay while maintaining his consultant position at Alabama.

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These first days of the Mercury retrograde remind us how life rarely unfolds in linear, idealized paths. Most people end up living their best stories in chapters they didn’t expect. Remember there are many valid, fulfilling routes to getting to any particular destination, not just the one that culture, ego or our early fantasies locked onto.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You can’t fake chemistry. You know this, but it’s wild how many people still try. You feel it instantly — in art, in conversation, in a stranger’s glance. Trust your aesthetic radar. It rarely steers you wrong.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Sure, you could talk around the issue so thoroughly that the original point gets lost, but it’s a strategy you’ve outgrown. You’re in a phase where clarity is more important than avoiding the discomfort of honesty. Anything less than true communication would feel like self-betrayal.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Certain relationships have developed into something so consistent, so predictable, they’ve readied you for something a little more surprising. You’d like to be challenged, and you will be, in just the right amount.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). The day brings an awareness of how you give love, not per quota, but as a part of yourself, ongoing — an endless lease in your heart. You’ll show love with service, through gifts, and mostly just by prioritizing their happiness and well-being.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’re tired of things that glitter with promise and deliver nothing but complication. Today, seek the plainspoken, the under-designed, the unpolished gem. The soul of a thing will speak to you before the packaging does.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). What you’re holding in your body affects your mood, and sometimes much more than you realize. Where does tension cluster? Where is the ease? Before you talk, before you act, scan the system. There’s wisdom in the unspoken signals.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). There’s money to be made, but the real payoff is not so obvious. Stay tuned to shifts in power and key information handed through the side door. Stay alert. The most useful information will be traded in whispers.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Your powers of discernment will continue to serve you well today. Don’t be seduced by the wrapper or distracted by clumsy packaging. Tune into the intent behind the words, the vibe behind the visuals, the energy behind the smile.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You’re cool even when emotions come in hot. You don’t have to slam the door. You don’t have to blow it up. You can just… slow the rhythm. Delay the return text. Skip the call. Let the silence speak, as it most certainly will today.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Anything that went wrong in the past was a lesson you either already learned or will absorb in time without further effort. There’s no need to keep processing, digging, ruminating. Take control with a simple shift in focus. Forward only.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You advocate for your needs without demanding others sacrifice theirs. You deserve to have your time respected, your creative priorities honored and your evening protected so you can show up where you shine.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). How do you know you can trust someone? The proof is in how they show up over time. Same with you. Don’t worry about the core goodness or character traits or anything too mystical. Look at the record, and do what it takes to have a good one. This is about logistics.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (July 18). Welcome to a year of connections, creative fuel and emotional refuge aplenty. You are the reason people feel better, and they’ll credit and celebrate you for the profound impact you have on their lives; what could be better? More highlights: Colorful collaborations with unique results, exclusive arrangements catered just to you, events you can’t believe you’ve finally been granted VIP access to. Capricorn and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 13, 1, 11, 20 and 6.

Holiday Mathis’ debut novel, “How To Fail Epically in Hollywood,” is out now! This fast-paced romp about achieving Hollywood stardom is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit creatorspublishing.com for more information. Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

With one play left to win the Jubilee 7-on-7 tournament Thursday afternoon at Trione Park, Saraland coach Jeff Kelly knew exactly where to go.

“I told (quarterback) Jamison (Roberts) that we are going to run all go and, unless they just put two on top of him, let’s give Deshawn (Spencer) a shot to make a play. That’s what he did, and Deshawn made a play.”

Spencer hauled in Roberts’ pass down the left seam to give the Spartans a 23-21 walk-off victory over St. Michael in the championship game.

“We brought two teams over here,” Kelly said. “I was proud of our young guys. They did a great job. Our older guys got in a bunch of competitive situations. We had several games that came down to the wire. We got a chance to get a lot of good work against a lot of good people and had a chance to work on our coverages on defense, our concepts offensively. The best thing was we got a lot of conditioning in, and that’s big-time important as we get ready for August.”

Saraland went 3-1 in pool play in the 15-team A Division. St. Michael and Spanish Fort were both a perfect 4-0.

In the tournament play, the Spartans defeated Foley 31-12, Mary G. Montgomery 24-18 and Spanish Fort 33-9 to advance to the title game.

St. Michael defeated Mary G. Montgomery’s B-team 25-15, Fairhope 33-16 and host Daphne 29-20 to reach the championship game.

“It’s always a well-run tournament,” Cardinals coach Philip Rivers said. “We love coming over here. It’s kind of our summer finale. It was good competition. Good work. A lot of good teams here. I know it’s 7-on-7, but you still like to find a way to win your last day, your last play, but it was a lot of good work against good teams.”

Thursday’s tournament marked the end of 7-on-7 season and really the end of the summer. The teams now gear up for the start of fall camp in a few weeks and the openers in five weeks.

Saraland travels to take on reigning 4A champ Jackson on Aug. 22, while St. Michael hosts Bayside Academy.

“Summer is over,” Rivers said. “We tease about summer being over even when it starts because it goes so fast. I think we are 35 days from Bayside tomorrow.”

The latest rendition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown will take place in San Antonio, Texas this week. This comes after this past weekend’s ‘Evolution’ show, which provided tons of storylines heading into these upcoming matches.

A shocking Money in the Bank cash-in took place over the weekend in Atlanta, when Naomi came swooping in to become the new women’s world champion. A hard-fought match between Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky ended at the hands of Naomi.

In the WWE Women’s Championship match, legend Trish Stratus returned to singles action, but lost at the hands of Tiffany Stratton.

After scouring multiple sites for tickets, here’s the starting prices for Friday night’s show:

• Gametime – Prices starting at $75 (cheapest starting price)
• Seatgeek – Prices starting at $75
• Stubhub – Prices starting at $78
• Vivid Seats – Prices starting at $80

Here’s everything you need to know before Friday’s show:

When: Friday, July 18, 2025

Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will come to an end in May, CBS said Thursday.

The network, which has aired Colbert’s show since 2015, said this version of “The Late Show” had an “historic run.”

“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time,” CBS executives said in a joint statement, per Variety. “We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.

“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

Colbert, who replaced David Letterman on the show, announced the news on his show Thursday.

“It’s not just the end of our show,” he said. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.

“The folks at CBS have been great partners.”

The White House attempted to block the publication of a Wall Street Journal article about President Donald Trump‘s alleged 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein that contained suggestive language.

Trump threatened legal action against the paper if it went to print with the story, which published on the paper’s website Thursday afternoon.

According to the Wall Street Journal story, the letter was part of an birthday album with contributions from several people, including Alan Dershowitz and Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner. The letter “is bawdy — like others in the album,” the Journal wrote.

“It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair. The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.’” (Epstein was a close friend and business associate of Wexner and a fixture at the lingerie line’s fashion shows.)

On Wednesday, Variety reached out to the White House and the Wall Street Journal for comment about the imminent story as well as the ensuing back and forth between the two parties. Both declined comment.

But the Wall Street Journal spoke on Tuesday night with Trump, who denied writing the letter. “This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” he told the paper.

After the article’s publication on Thursday, Trump reaffirmed his intention to sue, writing on Truth Social, “Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so. The Editor of The Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker, was told directly by Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE, but Emma Tucker didn’t want to hear that. President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly.”

The story hit at a time when Trump’s MAGA base is divided over the White House’s handling of documents related to an investigation into Epstein, the late financier who was arrested for sex trafficking of minors in 2019 and died under mysterious circumstances while in custody weeks later.

His death was ruled a suicide but has long been the subject of conspiracy theories given his ties to powerful government officials, including Trump and former President Bill Clinton.

The purported letter at the center of the Wall Street Journal story predated Epstein’s arrest in 2019. It also would have been written five years before Epstein pleaded guilty for soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14 in 2008.

It is known that the two men were friends, though they reportedly had a falling out after Epstein hit on the teenage daughter of a Mar-a-Lago club member in 2008, months before the financier pleaded guilty to the solicitation charge. Trump revoked his membership in the posh club immediately.

The MAGA backlash stems from Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s decision not to release the Epstein investigation files in full.

Bondi’s move opened the floodgates on a news cycle that has put Trump on the wrong side of some of his most ardent followers. Many famous backers of Trump including Tucker Carlson, Roseanne Barr and Steve Bannon appear to have turned on the president in recent days over the White House’s handling of the Epstein files.

Others like Megyn Kelly and Theo Von have been more muted in their criticism but still skeptical and have spent hours on the subject on their various podcasts and platforms.

For the past several days, Trump has downplayed the significance of Bondi’s decision and dismissed calls from politicians to influencers for more transparency into the Epstein investigation, calling the case “pretty boring stuff.”

In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump blamed Democrats for pushing a “scam” and “hoax” with regards to his relationship with Epstein.

“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker,” he wrote.

In an previous post, he wrote: “We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening,” the president wrote. “Let’s not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”

Later in the day on Wednesday, the Justice Department fired Maurene Comey, the top prosecutor in the 2019 Epstein case, adding fuel to a story that doesn’t appear to be dying down.

Even after his first stint in jail, Epstein enjoyed long-cultivated relationships within the government — both U.S. and Israeli — as well as New York media circles, academia and even Hollywood, which allowed him entry into events where the richest and most powerful people converge.

The Justice Department and FBI said in a memo last week that they found no evidence that Epstein kept an “incriminating ‘client list.’”

The memo added: “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

But Epstein certainly kept a little black book that became part of the public record following his first arrest. Among the Hollywood notables whose contact information appeared in the book were Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey.

(Spacey, for one, has called on the White House to release the full Epstein files, saying he has nothing to hide.) In 2015, Gawker published the flight logs from Epstein’s private jet, which showed that Clinton had flown on the private aircraft dubbed the Lolita Express.

© 2025 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Felix Baumgartner, a daredevil and extreme athlete, died on Thursday after a paragliding accident in Italy. He was 56 years old.

The incident occurred in Porto Sant’Elpidio on the Adriatic coast when Baumgartner reportedly suffered cardiac arrest and lost consciousness mid-air before crashing into a hotel swimming pool, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

A female employee was struck by the glider and taken to the hospital with neck injuries.

Earlier on Thursday, Baumgartner had posted a photo on his Instagram Story of a Red Bull-branded windsock with the caption “Too much wind.”

Baumgartner was a world-class BASE jumper and skydiver who rose to international fame in 2012 when he jumped from a balloon about 25 miles above the Earth. He broke the sound barrier during his descent, reaching a speed of 843 mph.

The jump, watched by millions on a livestream, was also the highest recorded manned balloon flight and the highest ever freefall at the time.

“When you’re standing on top of the world, you don’t think of records any more, all you think is that you want to come back alive,” he said after completing the feat.

Baumgartner was also known for jumping the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the then-tallest building in the world, and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. He also crossed the English Channel on a specially designed carbon wing.

In more recent years, the Austrian-born athlete sparked controversy when he criticized Austria and Germany’s immigration policies and called for “a moderate dictatorship.” On top of supporting right-wing politicians, he recommended Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.

©2025 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The kickoff to the upcoming SEC season begins where it will end in December, though the SEC Championship Game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Before toe meets leather to kick off the 2025 slate of football game, players and coaches meet with the media to talk about what lies ahead. Each day, AL.com provided daily wrap ups from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of SEC Media Days with moments and interesting nuggets of information you might have missed.

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz provides morning laughs

Covering the yearly media day rounds can be an exciting time with signs the college football season is around the corner. It can also be stressful for the men and women who are trying to get as much as they can from the teams the cover, and the conference as a whole.

Depending on how long these things go, the last day can be a bit of a drag, knowing the finish line is in sight, but also, you’ve got a lot of work to get done.

That’s when Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz provided the tonic needed on Thursday morning.

Don’t believe it? Coach Drinkwitz said the following in his opening statement:

“But just as a reminder, I’m not going to answer any questions about the Epstein Files, whether about the Radiation Belt, and whether or not it was possible for Lee Harvey Oswald to get three shots off in succession in seven seconds. I don’t have time to answer all those questions, but I will answer questions about Mizzou football.”

Not only did he answer questions about Mizzou football but also had some interesting answers on both the college football playoff, and scheduling in the SEC. Two topics that most coaches have had to tackle this week.

Sam Pittman’s stern plea

It is a coach’s best friend, but also can be its worst enemy, the NCAA transfer portal. Across all sports, recruiting is now a year-long activity, not only to acquire talent but retain the existing players on your team.

And coaches are ringing the alarm, asking for change.

The latest? Arkansas football’s Sam Pittman.

While on the stage at SEC Media Days, Pittman called the multiple portal windows, “the craziest thing in the world”. Also noting he prefers the single portal window to open following the end of the season, closing the post-spring portal window for good.

Texas A&M hasn’t forgot what Auburn took from them

The Texas A&M Aggies were a win away from locking up a spot in the SEC championship game last season. All they had to do was win one of their last two games of the season, on the road at unranked Auburn, and hosting Texas to wrap the regular season.

After four quarters, and four overtimes later, it was Auburn who handed the Aggies their first of eventually two missed opportunities at the SEC title game. While revenge against the rival Longhorns is a given, it appears that Auburn is also on the Aggies revenge list this upcoming season.

The latest on a Nick Saban return

It’s almost fitting really.

The beginning of SEC Media Days 2025 began with former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy discussing a possible comeback for legendary head coach, Nick Saban. It quickly became a topic of discussion from former players and former assistant coaches.

And as SEC Media Days 2025 came to a close, Nick Saban’s daughter Kristen Saban seemingly put everything to rest, with a simple sentence:

“He’s not coming back to coaching, hate to break it to you,” Kristen Saban wrote. “You had your time.”

Well, it seems like Nick Saban’s Saturdays this fall will still be occupied, just on ESPN’s College Gameday, not a college football sideline.

For the latest news from the SEC, log onto AL.com.

Spanish Fort has added two more former head coaches to its football staff.

Aubrey Blackwell has joined the Toros as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, while Nathan McDaniel will coach the team’s cornerbacks.

They join two other former head coaches – Kyle Stanford and Justin Thomas – who already were on staff.

“It’s huge,” Spanish Fort head coach Chase Smith said. “Just like with Kyle and Justin, anytime you can add that type of knowledge, it’s a good thing. Those guys have been where I am. They are familiar with the decisions and everything that goes on for a head coach. It’s invaluable.”

Blackwell stepped down earlier this summer as Saint James’ head coach. He’s also been a head coach at Montgomery Catholic (2015-2020), Benjamin Russell (2021) and Jackson Academy, Miss. (2022-2023).

“Coach Blackwell has been in a lot of different regions and classifications, so he’s seen a lot of football and knows a lot of football,” Smith said. “He served under a Hall of Fame coach in Jimmy Perry, who is a legend in this state. I love his philosophy. He knows how to cater to and work around the personnel you have. He has a great vision. I think it’s a perfect fit.”

Blackwell will have a three-year starter at quarterback to work with in Aaden Shamburger, who committed to South Alabama last week.

“We have some stuff that obviously fits us offensively, and we won’t get away from that,” Smith said. “But coach Blackwell will put his spin on it, and that’s why I’m hiring him. What we’ve done here has worked. It’s not broken, but he will provide more insight and a lot of experience.”

Shamburger said Blackwell already has helped him.

“He’s definitely helped me with my progressions and my reads,” he said Thursday morning at the Jubilee 7-on-7. “He teaches me all the little things. It’s been good.”

McDaniel joins the Spanish Fort staff after spending the last five years as head coach and athletic director at Elberta. Prior to that, he spent six years in the same role at Baldwin County High.

“Nate and I have been close for a long time,” Smith said. “With his experience and just with the kind of man he is, that’s huge for us. He’s not only been a head coach, but he’s been a head coach in this county for a long time. He’s a great coach and defensive mind. We are blessed to have him for sure.”

The new hires were approved at Thursday’s Baldwin County Board of Education meeting in Bay Minette.

Spanish Fort went 9-3 in 2024, losing 21-14 at Hueytown in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs. The Toros open the 2025 season at home against Fairhope on Aug. 21.

 “We’ll be a little different this year,” Smith said. “We have a lot of holes to fill on defense. We are doing things a little different but really focusing on personnel and evaluating that and making sure we have good depth. The summer is going well. The kids are here and working every day.”

Smith is 25-10 entering his fourth season as Spanish Fort’s head coach.