VINEMONT, Ala. – Fall is here, it’s nearly time to kick off football season once again and that means the Vinemont Eagles are preparing to hit the field. The Eagles earned a spot in the 3A playoffs a season ago and with several impact players returning, they’ll be eyeing a postseason return this year. Head Coach Stephen Robinson is entering his ninth season at the helm in Vinemont, and he was encouraged by the progress his team made in the offseason.
“We’ve had a great summer, it’s been busy. We lost 13 seniors last year so that’s a huge drop for a school our size, but we’ve got six seniors right now and they have all been on the field. A lot of them are two-way players, captains and leaders on the team,” Robinson said. “We’ve had a really good summer and went to a couple of 7-on-7s. We had an OTA with Geraldine, and I expect them to be really good, so it’s been good so far and we’re ready to get started.”
The Eagles will have a veteran core to lean on this season, but Robinson is excited to see how some of the younger players will be able to contribute as well.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids. We have a pretty large junior class and a pretty large freshman class so that’s going to help fill some holes. Our junior class has some leaders like Josh Rhodes who y’all have seen and Gabe Herrera whose been on the field for a few years. In our freshman class we ended up starting three or four depending on whether we were playing Fyffe or Good Hope in the spring,” Robinson said. “We started four on the defensive side of the ball and two on offense during the spring game. We didn’t have (Josh) Rhodes in the spring due to an injury, but he’s had a really good summer and has kind of gained that step back that he lost from surgery and he looks good. A lot of those freshmen have really come on too and we may have a couple of them in the rotation or even in starting spots by the time Aug. 22 rolls around.”
Vinemont finished third in the Region 5 standings a season ago and Robinson expects the region title race to be competitive again this fall.
“I think Winfield is the team to beat hands down. They didn’t lose many seniors, and they’ve got some defensive linemen that are really good players. They have a lot of really good players but there are two individuals up front that really stand out,” Robinson said. “Gordo has a new coach so they’re changing from a spread attack to what I believe is going to be more of a power I attack so we’ll have to see if there’s any kind of adjustment period for those kids because that’s a different mentality going from slinging it around all over the field to playing like we do. Oakman has a new coach, but he’s been on staff, so I expect them to be similar to the way they have been. Hanceville of course has their quarterback coming back and he’s a really good player and I think Midfield has a new coach as well so there will be a lot of new faces to see and a lot of new things to prepare for.”
The Eagles aren’t planning on tweaking things too much this fall but Robinson is looking forward to seeing how they can take advantage of their team speed. He’s been very pleased to see the older leaders on the team take the younger players under their wing to help prepare them for Friday nights.
“I think as far as us, we’ll be very similar to the way we’ve been. We do have a few more skill athletes this year whereas in the past we’ve had some more hardnosed, running attack type of athletes but I feel like we’ll still be pretty similar. I feel like our defense will probably be the fastest, most athletic defense we’ve put on the field,” Robinson said. “So, we’ll see how we can hold up in the power situations, but I feel really good about these guys and where we’re headed. This is a small group of seniors, but they have all been around and know how to do things. They’re all good about taking the younger kids and leading them and showing them the right way to do things. We try to help put them in those situations to force them to coach those younger kids, so I feel really good about this senior class and all of our guys.”
2025 Vinemont Football Schedule (3A, Region 5)
Aug. 22 – at Falkville
Aug. 29 – Southeastern
Sept. 5 – Phil Campbell*
Sept. 12 – Midfield*
Sept. 19 – at Carbon Hill*
Sept. 26 – West End
Oct. 3 – at Hanceville*
Oct. 10 – at Gordo*
Oct. 17 – Oakman*
Oct. 24 – at Winfield*
*Region Game
Check out The Cullman Tribune’s Football Fanatics preseason magazine when it becomes available for more on the Eagles and all our local teams including band and cheerleaders.
