Flomaton High School head football coach Doug Vickery was named the Class 3A Coach of the Year by the Alabama Sportswriters Association which also tapped Bailey Bass and Daquan Johnson on the first team All-State Team.
Da'Shun Odom received an Honorable Mention by the sportswriters, but Coach Vickery said he was a little bit disappointed by the lack of respect more players on the 2018 state championship team didn't get the recognition they deserved.
The honors continued with Johnson being named the Player of the Year by Al.com and Bass receiving Honorable Mention status.
“I appreciate the Coach of the Year award, but I was a little disappointed that only two players made first team and one made honorable mention,” Vickery said. “I looked at the list and there were teams we beat that got five or six on the team.”
Vickery said he'd rather they take the Coach of the Year award away from him and give the recognition to the players who allowed him to win the Coach of the Year award.
“I don't want to come across unappreciative,” Vickery said. “It's a great honor. But I just have to think politics got involved and they just about had to put two of our players on the first team. If I could trade my Coach of the Year Award for four or five of my guys who deserved to be on that list I would.”
Johnson earned First Team All-State status from the Alabama Sportswriters Association as an athlete and Bass received the honor for defensive lineman. Odom received Honorable Mention as a linebacker.
“If Da'Shun Odom is not a first team All-State player, I apparently don't know what one is,” Vickery said. “I've coached a lot of players and he's one of the best.”
But at the end of the day, Vickery said the individual honors don't really matter.
“All-State this and that doesn't mean anything at the end of the day when we get that ring,” Vickery said. “I'll take that ring over Coach of the Year every year. Everybody on our team will get a ring and that's very special and means a lot more than individual honors.”
The Alabama Sportswriters Association also tapped T.R. Miller's Ricky Samuel as a first team offensive lineman. Samuel has signed to continue his football career at Troy University.
Escambia County High School in Atmore landed William Bradley on the second team All-State Team as a defensive back.
Escambia Academy landed two players on the first team All-State team for AISA with running back Patrick McGhee honored as a running back and Shannon Wheat as a defensive back. EA's Nolan Linam was on the second team offensive line list and Jason Davis and Daughtry McGhee were named to the honorable mention list.
