Willie Anderson will get a much-anticipated phone call one way or the other in the coming days.

Anderson, the Auburn legend and former Cincinnati Bengals star, is a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the second straight year. He’ll find out between now and Feb. 9 if he will soon be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, or if he’ll have to wait at least another year.

“I went through the process of being a finalist last year and it was really tough,” said Anderson, who served as a panelist for the annual Reese’s Senior Bowl Summit Thursday night in Mobile. “They call you at the last minute and tell you you’re not part of the five that made it. This year, they still haven’t called yet. I’m pretty sure we’ll find out soon.

“But I’ve seen guys like my mentor, Robert Brazile, wait 34 years. Tony Boselli, who got in last year, waited for six years as a finalist. So me waiting two years or one or two more years as a finalist, I can’t complain about it.”

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Anderson starred at Vigor High School, the same Mobile-area school that is also Brazile’s alma mater. Brazile, the Houston Oilers’ All-Pro linebacker in the 1970s and 80s, is one of just 15 Pro Football Hall-of-Famers with Alabama ties — and the only one from Mobile County.

The 2023 Hall of Fame Class will be announced Jan. 9, three days before Super Bowl LVII takes place in Glendale, Ariz. Also among this year’s finalists is former Auburn High and Troy standout DeMarcus Ware, a linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos from 2005-16.

Anderson played 12 of his 13 NFL seasons with the Bengals, who drafted him No. 10 overall in 1996. A hulking 6-foot-5, 340-pound offensive tackle, he was a first-team All-Pro three times and a second-teamer once and is a member of the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ring of Honor and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Anderson was the No. 1 prospect in the state of Alabama coming out of Vigor, with Alabama winning the 1992 national championship during his senior year of high school. But he famously eschewed signing with the Crimson Tide to go to Auburn, where he started at guard as a true freshman before moving to tackle and earning second-team All-America honors as a junior in 1995.

“Back then, Alabama was king and Auburn was coming off a 5-6 season,” said Anderson, who played his final NFL season with the Baltimore Ravens in 2008. “My friend (tight end) Jessie McCovery from Theodore, we felt like to go to Auburn was a big thing, to go there and try to change the culture and change it to a winning program, which we did. And having an opportunity to go to the Bengals was a dream come true. My goal was to make it to the NFL and I had a chance to do that.”

Now 47, Anderson spends much of his time training the next generation of NFL linemen through his Willie Anderson Lineman Academy. Among those he’s trained since high school are Georgia’s Broderick Jones and Ohio State’s Paris Johnson, both of whom are candidates to be first-round picks in April’s NFL draft.

Anderson also works with EXOS Pro Sports Training Center in Pensacola, and has helped train a number of 2023 Senior Bowl players. Former Alabama guard Emil Ekiyor has praised Anderson for helping him learn blocking techniques that will serve him well at the next level.

“I started my academy, about six seven years ago, and mainly train high school linemen,” Anderson said. “But I do train college and pros, helping those guys with a skill set that maybe they don’t know or don’t have. With me being an ex-pro and knowing the skills of pass-protection, run blocking, I’m trying to get my expert opinion to those guys and enhance them. It’s an exciting time of year.”

The 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl kicks off at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Hancock Whitney Stadium, with television coverage via NFL Network. For ticket information, visit SeniorBowl.com/tickets.