Vestavia Hills’ Hanna Turns Physicality Into OTM Defensive Player of the Year Honor

2 months ago 6

By Rubin E. Grant

Spence Hanna loves to hit people.

That’s what makes Vestavia Hills’ senior safety such a physical, dynamic football player.

“He craves contact more than any player I’ve ever coached,” Vestavia Hills coach Robert Evans said. “He’s 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, but he plays like someone 6-2, 215 pounds.

“You usually have to tell players to be more physical, but with Spence you have to tell him there is a certain amount of self-preservation and you can’t go full bore on every play.”

Hanna traces his love for contact to roughhousing with his older brother Pierce. Plus, he said, “Football is the only game where you can hit people legally.”

This fall, Hanna did a lot of hitting. He recorded 88 tackles, including 50 solo, and five tackles for losses. He also had a sack and forced a fumble as the Rebels reached the second round of the Class 7A playoffs and finished with a 6-6 record.

For his performance, Hanna was voted the 2024 OTM Defensive Football Player of the Year in balloting of Over the Mountain coaches.

“I’m definitely honored and super grateful,” Hanna said. “There are a bunch of good players in our area. Our coaches put me in a good spot to make plays.”

Evans said Hanna is well deserving of the honor.

“Spence is the epitome of what a Vestavia player should be,” Evans said. “He was our best defensive player. He played with a significant foot injury throughout the season and just gutted it out.”

Hanna moved to free safety as a sophomore after playing linebacker his entire life. But he still found himself in the so-called box near the line of scrimmage most of the time, especially in certain run situations.

“I played like a linebacker,” Hanna said. “That was a big part of my success. I’d line up on the ball a lot against the run and I also covered a lot on passes.”

Evans compares Hanna to former Hoover defensive back Ben Abercrombie, who went to Harvard but was paralyzed while making a tackle in his first game.

“He’s the spitting image of Ben Abercrombie,” Evans said. “I think Spence can be a Navy Seal one day or a Fortune 500 company CEO.”

Hanna, who scored 30 on the ACT and has a 4.24 grade-point average, is being recruited by a few Ivy League schools, including Harvard, Cornell, Columbia and Brown.

“If I don’t go to an Ivy League school, I’ll go to Auburn and just be a student and study finance,” Hanna said. “I am definitely interested in investment banking.”

Hanna heads up the 2024 All-OTM Football Team defense. He is joined in the secondary by Hoover’s Jamar Moultrie, Mountain Brook’s Harris Crumpton, Spain Park’s Joe Cross, Homewood’s Malik Smiley and John Carroll Catholic’s Braydon Lowery.

Moultrie, who signed with the University of Louisiana Monroe, recorded 40 tackles, including three for losses. Crumpton had 90 tackles, three tackles for losses, four pass break-ups, and he returned a fumble for a touchdown. Cross had five interceptions and Smiley had 63 tackles and three interceptions.

The defensive linemen are Hoover’s Tyson Bacon and Palanding Drammeh, Homewood’s Will Ray, Mountain Brook’s Boyd Cooper and Briarwood’s Garrett Witherington.

Bacon recorded 40 tackles, two sacks and had nine quarterback hurries; and Drammeh, who signed with Tulane, had 58 tackles and 5.5 sacks. Ray had 63 tackles, nine tackles for losses and six sacks; Cooper had 47 tackles, two tackles for losses, three forced fumbles, three sacks and 11 quarterback pressures; and Witherington had 55 tackles, 3.5 sacks and five tackles for losses.

The linebackers are Hoover’s Cam Torbor, Spain Park’s E.J. Kerley, Homewood’s Trust Darnell, Vestavia Hills’ Grayson Bruno, Briarwood’s Rylan Hamm, Oak Mountain’s Colton Moore and Mountain Brook’s Hampton King and Miller Lee.

King had 66 tackles, 10 tackles for losses, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, three sacks and four pass break-ups. Lee had 82 tackles, two tackles for losses, two interceptions, four sacks and two pass break-ups.

Torbor recorded 102 tackles, eight tackles for losses, eight sacks and an interception. Kerley had 140 sacks; Darnell had 96 tackles, 12.5 tackles for losses and four sacks; Bruno led the Rebels with 89; Hamm had 77 tackles, 12 tackles for losses, 2.5 sacks and two interceptions; and Moore had 96 tackles, 12 tackles for losses and two sacks.

Vestavia Hills’ Owen Simpson is the punter. He averaged 45.5 yards per punt on 33 punts and gave up no return yards.

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