Aubrey Blackwell is coming home.

The Montgomery native was named the new head football coach at Saint James on Wednesday morning.

He replaces Neal Posey, who resigned after a year as head coach to take an offensive analyst position at UCF. Blackwell will be officially introduced at 2:45 p.m. today.

“I am honored to serve as the next head football coach at Saint James School, and my family and I are excited to return home to Montgomery and the Trojan family,” Blackwell said in a school press release.

Blackwell played football and baseball at Robert E. Lee High School, now Percy Julian. He went on to play college baseball at Central Alabama and the University of Montevallo. He is a member of both the Lee/Julian and Montevallo Halls of Fame.

Blackwell spent three seasons as an assistant coach at St. Paul’s in Mobile and two as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Saint James (2012-2014) before earning his first head coaching job at nearby Montgomery Catholic.

“My mission as a coach is to use the game of football to teach students life lessons of character, intergrity, faith and love,” Blackwell said. “This goes hand-in-hand with what Saint James does every day, building up students and helping them grow and develop into outstanding adults who one day will lead their communities, love their families and have pride in their school.”

Blackwell led Catholic for six years, accumulating a 54-19 total record and leading the team to the playoffs five times. Catholic went 24-4 in his final two seasons, reaching the 4A quarterfinals in 2019 and the 3A semifinals in 2020. Blackwell left to take the head coaching job at 6A Benjamin Russell, leading a team to a 3-7 record in his only season there.

He has spent the last two seasons as head football coach and director of athletic enrichment at Jackson Academy in Mississippi.

“Coach Blackwell is the perfect fit for this role, and we are incredibly excited about the future of our football program under his leadership,” Saint James head of school Larry McLemore said in the release. “As any who know him will attest, he is a great leader and a man of strong character.”

Blackwell takes over a Saint James program that won the Class 3A state title under Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Perry in 2022 and went 11-3 and reached the semifinals in Posey’s only season as head coach.

“It’s an honor to follow two great coaches and friends in Neal Posey and Jimmy Perry,” Blackwell said. “They built an incredible program, and we will work diligently every day to maintain their success and the respect Trojan football has earned.”

The Trojans will move up to Class 4A this fall and open with Blackwell’s former school, Montgomery Catholic, on Aug. 23.