The Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Classic is coming back to Mobile after more than a decade away, with the Alabama High School Athletic Association confirming the senior showcase will be played at the University of South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium starting this December. AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs announced the move, which brings the 36th edition of the series back to the city where it began nearly four decades ago.
The Classic was a Mobile staple for more than two decades, played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium from 1988 through 2010 before shifting to Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl in 2011. Under the new arrangement, the game will be hosted at Hancock Whitney Stadium in 2022, 2024 and 2026, with the first of those contests set for Saturday, December 10 at noon. The 2024 game is scheduled for Saturday, December 14, and the 2026 matchup will follow on Saturday, December 12.
“We think taking the Alabama-Mississippi Classic All-Star Game back to Mobile is a huge opportunity,” Briggs said. “The Alabama-Mississippi Classic got its start at Mobile in 1988. Mobile’s civic leaders and high school coaching community have been instrumental to the success of this great game from that beginning and helped make it what we think is the finest high school all-star football game in the nation.”
Briggs also thanked the University of South Alabama, the Mobile Sports Authority, and city and county leaders for helping bring the event home, while acknowledging Montgomery and Cramton Bowl for hosting the game since 2011. He credited University of South Alabama Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Erdmann and Danny Corte of the Mobile Sports Authority with playing major roles in returning both of the AHSAA’s marquee all-star games to the city.
Hancock Whitney Stadium has increasingly become a hub for the state’s top prep talent. The venue already hosts the AHSAA North-South All-Star Football Classic, which moved from the summer to winter and shifted from Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl to Mobile in 2020. That game will continue to be played in the city alongside the returning Alabama-Mississippi Classic, giving Mobile two marquee senior all-star showcases each December.
The Alabama-Mississippi Classic is organized annually by the AHSAA and the Alabama High School Athletic Directors and Coaches Association in partnership with the Mississippi Association of Coaches. Since 2015 the game has rotated between the two states, alternating with games hosted in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, a pattern that will continue even as Mobile locks in its share of the rotation.
On the field, the series has long been competitive. Alabama holds a 24-11 all-time edge in the Classic, which features 40 of the top senior football players from Alabama and Mississippi each year. Alabama’s all-stars won 17 of the 24 previous meetings played in Mobile, including the first three matchups in a row, all decided in overtime. Last December, Alabama shut out Mississippi 20-0 at the University of Southern Mississippi’s M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, marking Alabama’s first win on Mississippi soil and just its second shutout in series history. Mississippi’s only shutout of Alabama in the rivalry came in 1998, a 9-0 result at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Danny Corte of the Mobile Sports Authority said hosting high-profile AHSAA and coaching association events has long been a priority for the city. “We at the Mobile Sports Authority are excited the Alabama-Mississippi High School All-Star Football Game will be coming home this December and beyond,” Corte said. “With the roots of this game going back to 1988 in Mobile, we’re fired up the game is returning to our area.”
Mississippi is scheduled to host the 2023 edition of the Classic before the series returns to Mobile in 2024. Historically, Mississippi holds a 3-1 record in games played at Hattiesburg, while Alabama went 6-1 during the years the Classic was staged at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery.
For Mobile, the return of the Alabama-Mississippi Classic adds another significant sporting event to a growing calendar of high school and college athletics hosted at Hancock Whitney Stadium, reinforcing the city’s standing as a hub for prep football in the Gulf Coast region.