Area Sports

    By JIMMY WIGFIELD TUSCALOOSA — Ty Simpson would be Alabama’s starting quarterback if the Crimson Tide played Florida State this week, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said Monday. But Alabama doesn’t play the Seminoles in the season opener until Aug. 30 and Tide coach Kalen DeBoer pointedly declared he is not satisfied with the…

  A long line of fans waits to get Ryan Williams’ autograph during A-Day Saturday in Tuscaloosa. (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)     TUSCALOOSA — Jalen Mbakwe could see it coming before it happened, perhaps a trait that has allowed him to compete head up with Ryan Williams better than most the last few years in…

  By JIMMY WIGFIELD Ronnie Cottrell was hired as T.R. Miller’s new head football coach on Tuesday, marrying the state’s all-time winningest high school football program with one of the state’s top coaches of the last decade. Cottrell, 66, a 1977 T.R. Miller graduate, was approved as the Tigers’ coach Tuesday evening by the Brewton…

  By JIMMY WIGFIELD MOBILE — Many football coaches were dissuaded from applying for the UMS-Wright job because of the program’s tradition and championship expectations and the inevitable comparisons to Terry Curtis. One man was not and he’s now standing in the gargantuan shoes Curtis left on the front porch when he retired. Sam Williams,…

By JIMMY WIGFIELD UMS-Wright has hired highly regarded Brandon (Miss.) High School coach Sam Williams as its next head football coach, the school announced on its Facebook page Tuesday afternoon A formal press conference to introduce Williams will be held next week, the school said Williams succeeds the legendary Terry Curtis, who recently announced his…

          By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — The tight rims that demanded perfection or otherwise spat out shots, the vastness of Legacy Arena that made those rims hard to pick out of a crowd and the horrific thoughts of avoiding a second straight loss in the state finals did not matter to…

          By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — Jackson’s Isaiah Gladney didn’t see all the wires running out of the backboard, nor the bright lights shining in his eyes from the high reaches of Legacy Arena, maybe not even Plainview’s Sawyer Wilborn sliding over to get in his way and not even the…

    By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — There was little consolation for Vigor coach Andrea Powell and star center Jamonica Chambers after the Wolves reached the state’s final four, only to unravel on the grandest stage of Alabama high school basketball. No. 2-ranked Scottsboro administered Vigor’s worst defeat this season, 72-36, at the worst time…

          By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — In a game with all the suspense of a man standing before a firing squad, Vigor annihilated Guntersville 71-53 in the Class 5A state tournament semifinals Wednesday evening at Legacy Arena to reach the finals for the second straight year. And if the Wolves keep…

        By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — McGill-Toolen coach Phillip Murphy, who nearly lost his life to a ruptured, infected intestine two years ago, knows a lot about guts. Perhaps that is why he clutched up in speechless silence, looked down and scratched his head when asked to describe how a team with…