News and notes in between vacation days …

* The Sun’s football players of the year will be announced Sunday, and I’ll give one hint as to the big-school and small-school winners. Both guys were as exceptional on offense as they were on defense. It might be difficult to pick either athlete’s best position, so I just go with “football player.”

* A cool thing happened to the Fort Lauderdale Dillard basketball team last week. As the Panthers were practicing, in strolled Kobe Bryant. He visited with the players and talked some about his new Nike Zoom Kobe IV, which the Dillard players now wear. If you remember, the Panthers defeated Gainesville High School in last year’s FHSAA Class 5A state semifinals.

* For those keeping score, I finished 140-44 (76 percent) in my football playoff picks. The final weekend saw a 2-2 record, hitting on Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas over Lakeland in 5A and Tampa Plant over Tallahassee Lincoln in 4A. I incorrectly picked Miami Northwestern over Sanford Seminole (6A) and Tallahassee Godby over Cocoa (3A). The latter two were thisclose to having different results, as Seminole won on a long pass play in the final minute and Cocoa’s victory came in overtime.

* My final all-classification football top-10: 1. St. Thomas Aquinas (15-0), 2. Tampa Plant (14-1), 3. Seffner Armwood (12-1), 4. Sanford Seminole (13-2), 5. Miami Northwestern (13-2), 6. Jacksonville Bolles (14-0), 7. Lakeland (14-1), 8. Cocoa (14-1), 9. Pahokee (12-2), 10. Pensacola Pine Forest (12-1).

* Fellow Sun writer Ray FitzGerald said he recently saw former Santa Fe OL/DL Linval Joseph at the Gainesville Health & Fitness Center. Ray remarked the 6-foot-6, 300-plus-pound Joseph looked like he was carrying zero-percent body fat. A sophomore, Joseph is set to start for East Carolina on the defensive line against Kentucky on Jan. 2 in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

Have a great holiday season.