School Spotlight: Vestavia Hills Rebels (Vestavia Hills, AL)

Vestavia Hills High School is a public high school in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The Vestavia team name is the Rebels with their colors being red and blue. Vestavia participates in the 7A level of sports in the AHSAA. Vestavia has won 2 state championships in football in 1980 and 1998. Robert Evans has only spent one year as head coach, making it to the second round of the playoffs.

I was able to chat with Coach Evans about his tenure prior to Vestavia, their prior success, and his future plans to take the next step. Before coming to Vestavia, Buddy Anderson was head coach for 40 years, and he is currently the state’s all-time winningest football coach. There was one more coach in between Coach Anderson and Coach Evans’ tenure, but he left to coach in Georgia. Just to put this into context, the 7A Birmingham region is the toughest division in Alabama High School Football. Vestavia Hills is also a more academically inclined school, which puts less focus into its athletics than its academic programs.

Prior to arriving at Vestavia, Robert Evans was the Defensive Coordinator at Hoover from 2013-2017, winning a state championship in 4 of those 5 years. He then took the Defensive Coordinator job at Mountain Brook for 4 years, making it to the playoffs each year. Last year, Vestavia Hills started off as a 1-3 football team. Vestavia won 2 games, lost one more, and finished their season on a 3-game winning streak, ending the regular season at 6-4. Vestavia beat Austin in the first round of the playoffs and ended up losing to eventual state champions, Thompson High, in the second round of the playoffs. Vestavia’s future vision is to be a the top of the 7A division for numerous years. By keeping the most outstanding facilities and best weight programs to develop players, Vestavia can only go up from here.

Coach Evans mentioned some players to look out for during the next season. A lot of these athletes are multi-sport athletes.

#5 Jordan Ross is a Top 100 player in the class of 2024. He is a 6’5″ 220 lb Defensive End, Outside Linebacker, Wide Receiver, and Tight End.

#8 Keown Richardson is a class of 2024 6’0″ 163 lb Wide Receiver. He led Vestavia in receiving yards last year.

#13 QB John Paul Head is a class of 2024 6’1″ 215 lb Quarterback. He runs an impressive 4.74-second 40-yard-dash with a 425 lb squat and 225 lb bench. John Paul is currently committed to UAB in baseball.

#42 Jacob Watson is class of 2025 6’0” 210 lb Middle Linebacker and Nose Guard who can become a really strong starter on the defense. He benches 285 lbs and squats 450 lbs.

#74 J.D. Livingston is a class of 2025 6’1” 245 lb Offensive Guard and Long Snapper. JD benches 225 lbs and squats 315 lbs.