Nearly two dozen Baldwin County football players were named to all-state teams by the Alabama Sports Writers Association following the 2023 campaign.

Headlined by Foley receiver Perry Thompson, Spanish Fort linebacker Sterling Dixon and Gulf Shores athlete Ronnie Royal, nine local players earned first-team all-state spots. Six were recognized on second-team all-state lists and eight were all-state honorable mentions.

Thompson, Dixon, Royal also named finalists for players of the year

Additionally, the ASWA announced that the trio was also represented in their respective classification’s finalists for back and lineman of the year.

Thompson, an Auburn signee, is in the running for Class 7A Back of the Year against Anquon Fegans from Thompson and Cam Coleman, another Auburn signee from Central-Phenix City. Dixon, an early enrollee at Alabama and the reigning Class 3A Lineman of the Year, is up for Class 6A Lineman of the Year against DJ Barber from Clay-Chalkville and Malik Brockton from Pike Road.

Royal, an NC State signee, is a Class 5A Back of the Year finalist alongside Cam Phinizee from Russellville and Clarance Taylor from Pleasant Grove. The winners will be announced at the Association’s Player of the Year banquet on Jan. 16, 2024, in Montgomery.

Team breakdown

The Class 5A champion Gulf Shores Dolphins led the way with six representatives, followed by four Spanish Fort Toros and three Foley Lions. Two each from the Daphne Trojans, Baldwin County Tigers, Bayside Academy Admirals and St. Michael Cardinals, as well as one each from the Fairhope Pirates and Snook Christian Eagles, were also recognized.

Nine garnered first-team spots in their respective classifications between four on offense, four on defense and one athlete. Six more were second-team honorees with three on offense, two on defense and another athlete. The eight honorable mentions were split four and four on offense and defense.

Baldwin’s all-state football squad

Baldwin County’s all-state football team could potentially do some damage although it is missing some key pieces in the trenches. Only Foley’s Logan Joellenbeck and Bayside Academy’s Graham Uter are the traditional offensive linemen with Spanish Fort tight end Chandler Wilson also on the line of scrimmage.

Still, with St. Michael freshman Gunner Rivers at quarterback, he’d have receiver weapons including his teammate Brody Jones to go along with Foley’s Thompson and Snook Christian’s Roshad Harris. To balance the aerial attack, running backs Kolton Nero from Foley, Kolin Wilson from Gulf Shores and Nick Clark from Daphne could tote the rock. Placekicker Will Langston from Gulf Shores would also handle punting duties, as he normally did for the Dolphins.

The defense could be equally lethal where Gulf Shores’ Kingston Lowe and Otto Brewer, Spanish Fort’s Cole McConathy and Daphne’s Tyler Durant would set the tone on the defensive line. Triple-digit tacklers Billy Neill from Bayside Academy and Dixon from Spanish Fort would line up behind them at linebacker with defensive backs the likes of Gulf Shores’ Braden Jackson, Fairhope’s Ameyr Adams, Spanish Fort’s Javontae Walton and Baldwin County’s Koby Johnson patrolling the skies.

And that’s before entering either all-state athlete into the lineup, including Royal from Gulf Shores and Ti Mims from Baldwin County.

All-state streaks extended

According to the Alabama High School Football Historical Society, 2023 joined a long list of multiple all-state selections for many teams.

Spanish Fort extended a streak to 15 seasons with multiple all-state nods and 16 overall with at least one. Daphne was not far behind with a new eight-season streak with multiple honorees where both Durant and Clark garnered all-state nods last year.

Bayside Academy landed multiple on all-state teams for the sixth season and Adams marked a sixth season at least one Fairhope Pirate was recognized. Similarly, both Foley and St. Michael had multiple all-state selections for a third straight season.

Gulf Shores earned multiple recognitions for a second straight season but the six also marked the most Dolphins honored in a single season which topped the previous best of four from 2009.

Both Baldwin County and Snook Christian featured sibling connections where Mims and Harris joined their older brothers in garnering all-state distinction for their schools. For the Tigers, the elder Ti Mims was a two-time all-state honoree in 2020 and 2021 and for the Eagles, Kareem Harris was the school’s first all-stater last year on offense.

Below are the full local representatives by classification for 2023 as voted on by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

Class 7A

First-team offense

RB: Kolton Nero, senior – Foley (5-11, 215)

WR: Perry Thompson, senior – Foley (6-4, 210)

OL: Logan Joellenbeck, senior – Foley (6-6, 335)

Second-team defense

DB: Ameyr Adams, senior – Fairhope (6-0, 188)

Honorable mention

RB: Nick Clark, senior – Daphne (5-9, 205)

DL: Tyler Durant, senior – Daphne (6-4, 250)

Coach of the Year: Zach Golson – Mary G. Montgomery

Class 6A

First-team defense

DL: Cole McConathy, senior – Spanish Fort (6-5, 235)

LB: Sterling Dixon, senior – Spanish Fort (6-3, 215)

Second-team offense

OL: Chandler Wilson, senior – Spanish Fort (6-4, 225)

Second-team defense

DB: Javontae Walton, senior – Spanish Fort (6-0, 192)

Second-team athlete

Ti Mims, junior – Baldwin County (5-10, 165)

Honorable mention

DB: Koby Johnson, junior – Baldwin County (5-9, 175)

Coach of the Year: Drew Gilmer – Clay-Chalkville

Class 5A

First-team offense

RB: Kolin Wilson, junior – Gulf Shores (5-8, 175)

First-team defense

DL: Kingston Lowe, senior – Gulf Shores (6-1, 230)

DB: Braden Jackson, senior – Gulf Shores (6-1, 185)

First-team athlete

Ronnie Royal, senior – Gulf Shores (5-10, 180)

Second-team offense

PK: Will Langston, senior – Gulf Shores (5-9, 160)

Honorable mention

DL: Otto Brewer, senior – Gulf Shores (6-3, 240)

Coach of the Year: Jake Ganus – Moody

Class 4A

Second-team offense

OL: Graham Uter, senior – Bayside Academy (6-5, 295)

Honorable mention

QB: Gunner Rivers, freshman – St. Michael (6-3, 175)

WR: Brody Jones, sophomore – St. Michael (5-9, 150)

LB: Billy Neill, sophomore – Bayside Academy (6-0, 185)

Coach of the Year: Lawrence O’Neal – BTW-Tuskegee

AISA

Honorable mention

WR: Roshad Harris, senior – Snook Christian (5-10, 150)

Coach of the Year: Lebo Jones – Wilcox Academy