VINEMONT, Ala. — In this interview, I talked to one of Vinemont’s multi-sport standouts, Colby Miller. Colby made a long list of school and sports memories during his years as an Eagle.
“One of my favorite football memories that comes to mind was when I was a sophomore. My older brother was a senior and that was the first time I started at quarterback. It was homecoming against Locust Fork and to win the game, I threw him a 40-yard touchdown and he caught it to win the game,” Miller said. “Everyone was going crazy. That was probably the loudest that I’ve ever heard the crowd at the stadium, so that was probably my favorite. Another one was last year when we played Oakman and we went into overtime with them. That was the first time that we went to the playoffs since 2012. That was a big moment. In basketball, one of my favorite memories was when I was a sophomore and we made it to the state playoffs. Last year, we didn’t have the season that we wanted to have, but honestly, getting to play the games with all of my buddies, I’m going to miss that. After the games, going out to eat with the friends, going to hang out at each other’s houses after the games, I’m going to miss that a lot.”
Colby continued,
“My favorite high school memories were just being able to show up. I co-opted in and out, so I showed up around second period. I come in and I got to talk to all of my friends. I was really good buddies with the teachers and most of them were coaches, so that was really nice. Being a senior, you wouldn’t basically really be able to do what you want to do, but the teachers really didn’t care or get on you that much. That was really nice.”
Miller feels lucky to have played for some amazing coaches at Vinemont and learned so much from them.
“I love coach (Stephen) Robinson. He’s a good guy. He loves me too. He’s a good Christian dude and he’ll get after you. He was hard on me a lot because he knew what I could do,” Miller said. “I appreciate that. That drove me to play better and do better in the games and be a leader on the field. When times got tough, he’d come to me and tell me to buck up and do it. I listened to him. I loved playing for coach Robinson. I learned to be a leader and don’t back down. Sometimes, you’ve got to bow up and be a man about it. If you take a hit, give a hit back. Be tough. Act like you’re the man on the field. I learned to be who I am and do what I do. Me and Coach Boyd, we’ve got a good relationship. Coach Boyd’s a good dude, great Christian man. I love him to death. We liked picking on each other a good bit and coach Boyd would tell me to be who I am and do what I do during the game. He would always tell me to push myself, even when I’m tired. I learned not to give up. Don’t look at the scoreboard. Keep pushing through the tough points.”
Miller continued,
“Coach (Hunter) Cornelius is an awesome dude. I really like him. He’s cool and young, so he knows what we’re thinking. He can jive with us pretty good, and he was really chill. But he would chew us out when we needed chewing. We didn’t have the season that we wanted, but we still won some games. He pushed us a good bit and he knew what we were capable of when we would go into a game. He was a really good dude and he actually played college baseball, so he knew a lot about baseball. Towards the end of the season, he’d want to go eat with us and have a little team bonding. He’d open up the lounge up for us on Sundays. There was a really good group of guys this year and I feel like we jived good this year because of coach Cornelius. I thank him for stepping in for my senior year and being a good coach to me. Coach Collins knew me since I was little. We went to church together. Coach Webb’s known me since I was in kindergarten. He was my P.E. coach when I was in elementary. I love those dudes. I worked my tail off and they gave me a spot my freshman year and I actually got to start at either shortstop or second base. We made it to the second round of the playoffs that year, so that was really awesome. Those are some good dudes and they kind of let us flow with it during practices and let us do what we wanted to do. My high school baseball career worked out good.”
Colby learned a lot during his time at Vinemont and gave some advice to the students that will be starting high school in August.
“Get out of your comfort zone a little bit, get involved in different things, and talk to a bunch of people. Don’t be afraid to talk to people,” Miller said. “You’ll learn some things from people if you talk to them. Don’t regret it. Just have fun with high school. I’m going to miss it for sure, so just have fun with it, because you’ll miss it one day. That’s one of the best years of your life.”
Colby added,
“I know they will be a little nervous coming into high school because I was a little bit. Don’t be afraid to go up and talk to people. Be good friends with people. Don’t be afraid to go out and do stuff. Have fun and if you want to go with the flow, go with the flow. Do whatever you want to do and be who you want to be.”
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