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The American sports drama series All American premiered on The CW Network on October 10, 2018. The series was renewed for a seventh season, which aired the first of thirteen episodes on January 29, 2025. The series was created by April Blair, who also serves as a showrunner along with Nkechi Okoro Carroll.
The story is inspired by the life of professional American football player Spencer Paysinger. It follows teen Spencer James (played by Daniel Ezra), a rising star football player from Crenshaw whose dream is to make it to the NFL. He gets recruited by Coach Billy Baker to play for the South Crenshaw High School football team.
Coach Billy Baker met an unfortunate end in the fifth season. The coach dies a tragic death while saving a student after a bus carrying him and his football team crashed on its way back from a scouting combine. The death of the character came as a surprise to the viewers.
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However, Coach Billy Baker returned briefly for a single episode titled Kids See Ghosts in All American season 6, in scenes re-enacting the letters he wrote.
The tragic demise of the protagonist, Coach Baker
Coach Billy Baker is played by Taye Diggs in the sports drama series All American. After watching Spencer perform exceptionally for South Crenshaw High's football team, Baker manages to recruit him for his team to help him achieve his NFL dream. To help him transfer successfully to his high school, Baker also lets Spencer stay at his home like a family.
The coach, Billy, and Spencer are shown to have a father-son bond throughout the show. He also helps his players deal with their problems and cares for them deeply.
Billy's standout moment in the series is the win his team delivers against Coach Skolnick's Malibu football team to continue their winning performance. During the match, Scolnick managed to get his hands on the plays Billy made. With no time to create new plays, he decides to use Crenshaw's. With help from both Spencer and Chris, his team pulls off a victory.
Unfortunately, Billy's journey ended in the fifth season of All American. The coach died saving a student after a bus carrying him and the South Crenshaw High School football team crashed on its way back from a scouting combine.
In an interview with Deadline in February 2023, showrunner Nkechi explained how she decided to include Billy's chapter. The decision to end his journey came organically before plans for All American season 5 were made.
"At the beginning and end of every season, I have a conversation with the cast about the journey of their character, and it was in those conversations for Taye that we started talking about, 'Is Billy's journey on the show over? And if so, what would an exit look like?' To me, there was only ever one exit for Billy if he was leaving, because the character would never leave after fighting so hard for his family," Nkechi said.
What is the sports drama series All American about?
The series All American premieres its seventh season on January 29, 2025, and will conclude after thirteen episodes on May 5, 2025. The installment continues Kingston Jeremy's story and his battles. It also features a troublemaker, a talented athlete getting a second chance at football, echoing moments from the first season. Additionally, a new coach takes over Beverly High.
The latest installment will air on CW and will be available on the CW app a day later. After its run on the CW Network, the season will also be available on Netflix. As per IMDb, the sports drama series All American has received a positive approval rating of 7.6/10 based on over 16,000 user reviews so far.
Stay tuned for further updates on CW's sports drama series All American.
