Toast of the Coast: Myrtle Beach’s Arnold catalyst of one of state’s top offenses once again

Drayton Arnold’s season came to an abrupt end.

Not even a thumb injury that held him out of the Myrtle Beach’s final two games could change what he did before he got hurt.

The junior quarterback elevated the Seahawks to the No. 1 spot in the state rankings for 10 weeks and put up some huge numbers in the process. Myrtle Beach finished with double digits in the win column for the ninth consecutive season, with Arnold having as much to do with that as anybody.

“Things clicked so well at points throughout the year,” Arnold said. “It was like riding a bike, almost. It went so smooth.”

The Sun News Toast of the Coast Football Offensive Player of the Year was even better than the version of himself that helped Myrtle Beach win the 2013 Class AAA state title. As a junior this past season, he threw for 2,884 yards and 37 touchdowns in just 10 1/2 games. He broke his right thumb in the playoff opener against Gilbert, but not until he added a 381-yard, four-touchdown performance that continued to gain him some national recognition.

In total, he threw for nearly 1,000 more yards than the next-best passer on the Grand Strand and accounted for 13 more touchdowns than any other area player.

“Naturally, his body matured. He got bigger, faster, stronger,” Seahawks coach Mickey Wilson said. “A lot of that can be credited to him going in the weight room and working his tail off. He has put the work in as far as his sophomore to junior year. That’s a natural progression, but he accelerated that a lot by putting the time in.”

It wasn’t all about a weight routine.

“It was more mental,” Arnold said. “Being a quarterback here, there’s so much to memorize. There’s a lot that goes into it.”

So far, Arnold has gotten a lot out of it, too.

He’ll enter his senior year at Myrtle Beach having already thrown for 5,376 yards and 68 touchdowns. Both figures should continue to balloon in the Seahawks’ pass-happy offense that will again be considered one of the best in the state in the preseason despite the loss of three receivers and an offensive lineman. If that happens, he’ll likely finish among some of the top touchdown producers in state history.

Wilson believes Arnold could undergo another individual leap similar to the one he had during the previous offseason.

“I think he will because he’s going to put in the work,” Wilson said. “That very well could be the case. Since I’ve been at Myrtle Beach, I’ve loved to have the third-year starter. … Our system is tough. We put a lot of pressure on our quarterback.”

This story was originally published December 27, 2014 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Toast of the Coast: Myrtle Beach’s Arnold catalyst of one of state’s top offenses once again."