School Spotlight: Billingsley Bears (Billingsley, AL)

Billingsley High School is a K-12 school located in Billingsley, AL. The school colors are black and gold and their mascot is the Bears. Billingsley competes in the 1A Class of athletics in the AHSAA. Billingsley has won 2 state championships in 1992 and 1997. Head Coach Lanny Jones has been the Head Coach for Billingsley for only 1 season, taking the job during the summer before the season started.

Before taking the job, Coach Jones pointed out that the program hasn’t had a winning record in a long time. For the last couple of years, this was one of the programs that could not make it over the hump. Consequently, Coach Jones had his hands full when first taking the job. Ironically, the Bears Football Team had traditionally been very good. However, Coach Jones had been excited for this challenge and trying to get Billingsley back on top.

When Coach Jones had arrived, the culture was very bad. Because there had been so many losing seasons not much pride could have been taken in the program. In this case, it was very hard for the players to buy in if they were not seeing results, thus leading to other accountability issues. Coach Jones has only been here for one year, and is already doing his best to turn this program around. One of the most important thing for Coach Jones to accomplish when he arrived was to get his athletes in the weight room consistently, which led to some of the losses of this past year. Also, the team only had 4 seniors last year. Coach Jones knew that the team was at a huge disadvantage every week, but he applauded the effort his players gave while on the field. Billingsley finished at 3-7 on the season.

Looking towards the future, Coach Jones wants to continue to change the culture, raise expectations, and increase accountability. Firstly, getting in the weight room and getting his players stronger is the most important step to Billingsley’s success. Also, after building strength, building their team’s football IQ is the next step to success. Coach Jones was able to chat with me about some top prospects to be on the lookout for during next season.

#3 Landon Jones is a 5’10” 170 lb class of 2025 Quarterback and Free Safety. Landon has great pocket presence and can deliver throws under pressure.

Nathan Gilmore is a 6’0″ 150 lb class of 2024 Outside Linebacker and Wide Receiver. Nathan is a physical tackler on defense and a great pass catcher on the offensive side of the ball.

#2 Javaris Livingston is a 5’9″ 150 lb class of 2024 Wide Receiver and Cornerback. Javaris is a very special athlete who can make something out of nothing when he gets the ball.

#6 Shamarion Massey is a 5’9″ 150 lb class of 2024 Cornerback. Shamarion is a very good tackler with good coverage skills.

#7 Kyle Boice is a class of 2026 Wide Receiver and Quarterback. Kyle is a very physical athlete that can play multiple positions.

Kaden Cotton is a 5’4″ 155 lb class of 2026 Running Back and Outside Linebacker. Kaden is a very hard runner with great vision and explosiveness.