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It might not feel like football season, but don't tell that to Horry County high school football coaches.

Spring practice began this week for local football programs, the first opportunity for teams to get an on-field look at how their units might be shaping up ahead of the 2025 season.

Other than a couple of off weeks across the summer, the start of spring ball begins a nonstop push ahead of August's high school football kickoff. May is full of on-field workouts, while June and July feature practices, workouts and 7-on-7 competition sprinkled throughout before the official day of padded practices just several weeks before the CNB Kickoff Classic in August.

Aynor head coach Jason Allen said spring workouts over the next several weeks allow him and his staff to install schemes and build a culture that will hit the field just several months from now in Week 0.

"From a culture standpoint, you really lay the foundation for the whole program,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about player expectations and what it means to be a Blue Jacket. We call it 鈥榯he four points of the diamond.鈥� They鈥檙e the things that equal character in the program, and the life lessons that some of them are hearing for the first time in their career.

"As far as schematically, you鈥檙e installing your offense and defense鈥� It鈥檚 a huge time to build your program from a scheme standpoint. It鈥檚 all about laying the groundwork for what you鈥檙e wanting to get accomplished. And, it鈥檚 about discovering talent. We try to recruit on our own campus, so this is about getting kids out who maybe haven鈥檛 ever played. It鈥檚 a slower environment in the spring, so you get a chance to work with those guys. It鈥檚 a huge time of year for that."

Conway head coach Josh Pierce, too, said spring practice is one of the most valuable times on the calendar.聽

Before this upcoming practice period, local players have spent the bulk of their football-specific time in the weight room. Pierce says this next month allows players to take everything they've been training on the squat racks and indoor gyms and transition that into on-field competition.

"This is important because it鈥檚 when the kids get to showcase what they have been working so hard on over the offseason," Pierce said. "I know our kids are itching to get out on the practice field right now because they spent the last six months in a weight room. And we preach to them that the weight room is to improve their physical and mental selves, but also their playing abilities. So now, I think our kids are ready to get on the field and test that out."

While installing a base offense and defense is a priority (both Pierce and Allen say that install will be the bulk of the work during May), Pierce likes to use spring practice to evaluate potential on-field standouts.聽

Under Pierce's plan this spring, the Tigers will place a priority on competing. And while it's still far too early to figure out who might be the team's standout contributors once August rolls around, the springtime nature of Pierce's practices will be competition-heavy to reach that goal.

"We always go into the spring with a mindset that we are going to allow our kids to compete. For as far as our culture goes, the spring is a great tool for that," Pierce said.

"For me personally, the spring is more of an evaluation period. You spend all offseason recruiting the hallways and then of course you鈥檒l have kids coming up from the JV. So we try to use this time to evaluate who can have a physical presence on the field for us. Who can help us there? And then, we spend a lot of time watching tape and evaluating kids in terms of what they can do best."

Allen says his staff will focus on installing plays on both sides of the ball to be able to hit the ground running once padded workouts begin in August.

Allen says "knowledge is a superpower" and May workouts allow local teams to be on the field, all together at once, to install full schemes on both offense and defense. While fundamentals and football-specific training is prioritized, coaches like Allen value building the playbook and teaching players what schemes will look like once the year begins.

"For us, our goal is to have our base offense and our base defense in," Allen described. "And then anything else extra we can get in, that鈥檚 big for us. We want to be up-tempo. We want to be able to walk into day one of fall camp with everything, mentally, installed so we don鈥檛 have to spend any extra time in practice teaching plays. Then, it鈥檚 about reps and high-paced intensity. [In the spring] is when you can do all of that. So the sooner we can get everything installed, the sooner we can start our pace."

Both Conway (3-7 in 2024) and Aynor (6-5 in 2024) are looking to make jumps this spring to improve and take strides forward to accomplish deep playoff runs in 2025.聽

While on-field talent is a bit unknown for everyone ahead of May, coaches and teams will have a much firmer understanding of how their groups are shaping up and how depth charts could shake out by the end of the next month of workouts.聽

Many Horry County teams are planning to host spring games at the end of May to wrap up the spring schedule. Conway will host its spring game on Thursday, May 29. Aynor will play its spring game a day later on Friday, May 30.

"This offseason was very smooth," Pierce said. "There was no twisting of the arm to make workouts or to make running workouts. They did what was required of them to do. They understand the standard, so I鈥檓 excited. We have a good group of kids, and we have a good coaching staff. I feel like everything is gelling together as far as that goes. It鈥檚 time to get to work.

Spring football quarterback storylines to track

Perhaps the most important element of spring practice is head coaches getting a grasp on their quarterback situation heading into the fall. Multiple Horry County programs will have new faces leading the way under center, and there will be several QB battles to watch over the summer.

While some signal-callers like Conway's Noah Legg, St. James' Alex Sandt and Loris' Moon Gerald are locked in as QB1, other teams don't have the luxury of having a returning full-time starter at quarterback.聽

Myrtle Beach graduated starter Gibson Goodroe, North Myrtle Beach graduated starter Landon Cloninger and Carolina Forest graduated primary starter Patrick Mullen. That's three Beach Region programs that will unquestionably have new faces leading their offense.聽

Area quarterbacks like Jack Shelley (Green Sea Floyds), Tanner Gaddy (Myrtle Beach) and Kamren Long (Carolina Forest) will have a chance to showcase what they can bring to the table starting this spring as coaches look to make evaluations on the best options for their offense.