Philip Rivers’ St. Michael opens season on ESPN2 Aug. 22 against Battle Ground Academy

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August 9, 2026

Coach Phillip Rivers will be back on nationwide TV August 22.

Last year, the head coach of Fairhope’s St. Michael Catholic High wowed the NFL world with a return to his old position at age 45, quarterbacking the Indianapolis Colts in three of their last games of the season. Now, it’s Coach Rivers, his high school team and his highly-ranked son, their quarterback, Gunner Rivers.

It’s being called the kick-off of the 2026 high school football season.

The highly anticipated game is between St. Michael Catholic High of Fairhope and Battle Ground Academy of the Nashville suburb of Franklin, TN. They kick off on Saturday, August 22 at 12:30 p.m. CT.

The game will be broadcast live to a national audience on ESPN2 as part of the ESPN “High School Football Kickoff Showcase.”

The game will be played at “The Nest,” the home stadium of St. Michael in Fairhope.

The storyline of this season opener is an attention-getting matchup between two starting quarterbacks with famous fathers.

Gunner Rivers: The senior four-star quarterback for St. Michael is the son of former NFL star quarterback and current St. Michael head coach, Philip Rivers. The 6-3, 230-pound quarterback has verbally committed to his father’s alma mater, North Carolina State.

Bo Bryan: The quarterback guiding Battle Ground Academy is the son of multi-platinum country music star Luke Bryan. He is 6’1” and weighs 200 pounds. He has not committed to a college.

Luke Bryan is expected at the game to watch his son. (Wouldn’t a Luke Bryan halftime show raise the already-high audience interest?)

Battle Ground Academy enters as the Tennessee defending state champion. St. Michael has moved into a newly formed, highly competitive private double-A classification in Alabama. This opener serves as a premier regular-season test for both teams and both states. Alabama versus Tennessee.

Before the game, the ESPN crew is expected to film scenic downtown Fairhope, the Fairhope Pier area on Mobile Bay, and local restaurants. It will be sort of like College GameDay, only at the high school level. Maybe this season opener for St. Michael High can turn into a regular gig.

We expect some film of Philip Rivers’ infamous sideline trash talk with absolutely no profanity. “Dad gum…”. “Ticked off…”. “Let’s stinkin’ go.” “Bullcrap.” “Rear-end whoopin.’” On a TV appearance last year, ESPN hot-mic’d Rivers to pick up his verbal expressiveness. It proved more interesting than the game.

Coach Rivers is a devout Catholic, along with his wife and ten children so far.

College football scouts are expected at the game looking at both quarterbacks and possibly at other players.

This high school game has the ingredients of a college football Saturday.

Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler is a freelance writer about the colorful and positive in Alabama — her people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected]