Arnold officially begins transition from Myrtle Beach High to Old Dominion

Drayton Arnold has said and done the right things all along.

Not surprisingly, the now-former Myrtle Beach quarterback and Old Dominion early enrollee will be doing it at his new home. In a little over a week, Arnold will be chaperoning good friend and Seahawk running back Brandon Sinclair during the latter’s official visit to the Norfolk, Va., school.

“You give me a good week in there, and I think I’ll be fine,” Arnold said. “I’ve been there four or five times, so as far as the campus, I think I’ll be fine.”

Even though the two players and their fates have been so closely tied since they were in middle school, Tuesday was all about Arnold. Myrtle Beach held a ceremony signifying his signing with ODU, where he verbally committed to May 14 of last year.

He officially turned over his financial aid paperwork in December, and by the time he had signed a blank piece of paper during Tuesday’s function – which took place in front of coaches, teachers and fellow students and with his parents at his side – ODU had already announced the mid-year pledge.

There were no surprises with multiple hats sitting on the table. This was about letting everyone congratulate him one more time before he heads north to make good on the commitment he delved out nearly eight months ago. Despite the fact the Monarchs had a redshirt freshman quarterback in Byrnes graduate Shuler Bentley starting this past fall, Arnold never flinched.

“No quarterback wants to go in and sit,” he said. “I want to go in there and have the mindset of helping the team and compete from there. It’s not about a quarterback competition. It’s about how you can get your team to beat this team and hopefully win a championship.

“You’ve got to look at the whole picture, really, and that’s what I looked at. There are so many opportunities about playing at Old Dominion rather than the [fact] that he’s starting right now.”

Myrtle Beach coach Mickey Wilson said ODU’s penchant for the passing game was a huge draw. Last season, the Monarchs threw for 2,600 yards en route to a 5-7 record.

Much of that had to do with Bentley. But like him, Arnold will also enter college with some impeccable prep statistics.

The Seahawks signal caller finished his career with 8,516 passing yards and 103 touchdowns. The scoring mark was second in school history only to Everett Golson (2007-2010). What Arnold accomplished academically also allowed him to follow in another of Golson’s paths.

Graduating early gives Arnold a jump-start with spring practices and classes.

Arnold, Wilson said, has the make-up to accomplish that transition without any snags.

“You have to look at each individual kid differently,” Wilson said. “Drayton’s certainly a kid who can handle it academically, socially. I think those things are important.”

What Tuesday’s ceremony broke down to, though, was football. Arnold’s acclaimed career at Myrtle Beach ended with the 2013 state championship, The Sun News’ 2014 Toast of the Coast Offensive Player of the Year honors, a spot in the 2015 Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl North vs. South game and a whole bunch of high-level passing numbers.

With that chapter closing, it’s one he can now appreciate.

“I think the numbers kind of speak for themselves,” he said. “You don’t pay attention to them while its happening. After the fact? Yeah, you look back on it and am like ‘That was pretty cool.’ … Going into playing quarterback here, I never went into it trying to break all the records. I just tried to be as great as I could be.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Arnold officially begins transition from Myrtle Beach High to Old Dominion."