That most magical time of year, football season, is upon us. Huddle up with three locals who are training the next generation of gridiron greats.

Story by Barry Kaufman + Photography by Lisa Staff 

Around the country, there’s a change in the atmosphere. The subtle scent of charcoal and seared meat emanating from parking lots everywhere. The furious tapping of screens as fantasy selections are made. The sound of arguments over starting quarterbacks and whether this is the year they go all the way. All of it, combined with the soothing bliss of autumn’s cooler climate, spell one magical sentiment. 

Football season is back. 

As we prepare ourselves for six months of gridiron glory (five if you’re a Browns fan), we’re taking a local tailgating trip to the high schools whose Friday nights fill us with joy. Every NFL legend started off as a high school kid with a dream and talent to see them through. This month, we get a season preview from the coaches whose job is helping those young players grow as athletes and as people.

B.J Payne

Hilton Head Island High School

If football is a religion, then Massillon, Ohio, might just be its Bethlehem. Tucked into the Ohio Valley, football’s cradle, the “City of Champions” has birthed no less than two dozen football legends, building them up in a town where the sport is sacred. Hilton Head Island High School’s bombastic football coach, B.J. Payne, was raised amid this mecca for football, but his mind wasn’t always filled with Xs and Os.

“When most kids are 5 years old, they want to be a police officer or a firefighter. I wanted to be a wrestler,” said Payne. “My parents were very supportive, but they made it clear I had to get a college degree.”

That stipulation proved fortuitous as Payne briefly paused his aspirations within the squared circle for higher education and the opportunities it provided on the field. His sturdy frame, combined with the tenacity he would bring to the wrestling ring, made him a standout defensive tackle at University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. 

“I won three National Championships there and went 54-1. We lost in the national semifinal my freshman year and never lost again,” he said. “It was an incredible experience because I got to play under Coach (Larry) Kehres. People throw around the term G.O.A.T. a lot, but he is the winningest head football coach in history. He’s at .929 — no one’s going to beat that.”

After college, he finally achieved his dreams of pro wrestling, signing a developmental contract with WWE (then WWF) after wrestling in the fabled Ohio Valley Wrestling promotion. He showed promise, but his in-ring career was cut short by a neck injury. Thankfully, he had the experience he’d gained under Coach Kehres to fall back on and began coaching at schools around Ohio. 

“I loved Ohio, but it’s gray six months out of the year. One typical 35-degree day with six inches of slush I was looking out my bay window thinking I should look for some jobs in the South,” he said. One of the most intriguing openings was on Hilton Head. “Like most people, my perception of what Hilton Head was turned out very different from what it is. As I started to dig in and find out more, I just fell in love with the makeup of this island.”

That began 14 years of guiding the football program around a philosophy he calls PFP. “You build your offense and defense around players first, then formations, then plays,” he said. “Too many coaches are true system guys, but it’s not the play. It’s having the players so it works for you.”

He’s racked up wins, including the famed Bridge Bowl win over Bluffton High, but it’s the wins off the field he’s most proud of.

“There are a lot of wins that show up 10 years from now and not on a Friday night,” he said. “We’ve done an amazing job promoting players and getting them to college. It’s about giving them outlet to lead and succeed, to be leaders in the community.”

Hilton Head Island High School: What to expect

Going into the season, the Hilton Head Island High School Seahawks have a pretty big act to follow. Last year’s 9-3 record was a boom for the program, despite ending with a heartbreaking loss in the second round of the 4A playoffs to South Florence. They proved dominant among teams in our region, and Coach B.J. Payne is looking to keep the momentum going. 

“We lost a great senior class last year… but we have a really good nucleus coming back,” he said. 

He points to a few of his players who he’s expecting to step into leadership roles and keep the team moving forward, including linemen Hayden Crockett and Aaron Stafford, quarterback Derrick Raniszewski, wide receiver Jeremiah Walters, running back Thaddeus Czarnecki and defensive players Josh Bigger, Andrew Massey and Samari Richardson.

Hayden Gregory

Bluffton High School

When the first snap of Bluffton Bobcat football was played in 2005, there was already electricity around the program. This would be the mainland’s first taste of Friday Night Football since H.E. McCracken High School became elementary-only, and the hype would only intensify as the Bobcats shot out of the gate as contenders. Yes, it took them four years to get over the Bridge Bowl hump, but losses to Hilton Head were just dark spots on a stunning record. In the ensuing years, they’d make a Lower State championship appearance and a region championship in 2010, and play in the 3A state championship game in 2011. 

But then came stagnation and division. The opening of May River High School cut their talent pool in half, and the whispers began to grow that the new school had effectively ended the Bobcat’s hopes for further playoff glory. 

The Bobcats needed someone to right the ship. They found that captain in coach Hayden Gregory.

“Part of the reason the job intrigued me was because it looked like a very similar situation to what the one I’d been in at Collins Hill,” he said. In his previous position as offensive line coach and run-game coordinator, he’d seen the legendary program struggle before he and his father Lenny Gregory turned it around. With personnel like 5-star recruit Travis Hunter, they brought Collins Hill a championship. “A lot of people had given up on us then, so it was very much déjà vu.”

And so far, the pattern is holding true. Working off a similar blueprint he used at Collins Hill, Gregory has managed in just a few years to restore the Bluffton Bobcats to the football powerhouse it was in its glory.

“This will be my fourth year in Bluffton. At Collins Hill, we made the playoffs my first three years but never made a deep run. By the fourth year we were state runner ups,” he said. “It’s honestly kind of weird because it’s the same trend. Good for the first three years and then the big year. And this is my first true class.”

The move to Bluffton not only let him step out of his father’s shadow and put his own stamp on a program, it’s allowed him and his family fantastic quality of life. “I’d been coming down here since I was 8 years old. This wasn’t a random choice – I practically grew up here,” he said. “It’s cool to know that we’ve found a really good place to raise kids.”

And Bluffton Bobcats Football, which had struggled to regain the glory of its early years, found a coach who knew how to turn a program around and had the skills to do it. 

“These guys want to be good. At the end of the day, though, winning is cool but it’s not the end-all-be-all,” he said. “My biggest thing is to teach these kids how to fight through adversity. It’s been awesome seeing these players who didn’t think they had a chance to be good and are now trying to be great.”

Bluffton High School: What to expect

Coach Hayden Gregory has high hopes for the Bobcats this season. Drawing off of his tenure at Collins Hill High School, where his fourth season brought home a championship trophy, he sees the pattern repeating here. So which game is he most looking forward to?

“Everyone would want me to say May River, but I think about it one game at a time,” he said. “It’s sounds so cliché, but we have so many teams that I care about beating.”

And fueling this big season will be a couple of players that Gregory thinks everyone should have their eye on – quarterback Aiden McCarthy and receiver Carnell Warren. “Both kids are tremendously talented. If you ever walk out to our practice, you’ll figure that out pretty quickly,” he said. “They’re both 6’4” and 250 pounds, so they’re both blessed with height and talent. But the best thing is they’re really good kids. They’ve taken the talent they have and haven’t taken it for granted.”

Bryce Lybrand

Beaufort High School

At the risk of infuriating half of LOCAL Life’s native South Carolinian readers, there are few names in South Carolina football that loom quite as large as Dabo Swinney. The bombastic coach of the Clemson Tigers wasn’t the most popular pick among fans when he was tapped as interim coach following Tommy Bowden’s departure, but he quickly silenced the haters with a slew of winning seasons capped with the 2016 national championship. 

Beaufort High School coach Bryce Lybrand can testify to Swinney’s outsized role in shaping Clemson’s fortunes. He was there to witness it from the ground up.

“I was a junior at Clemson and they sent out an email that they were looking for student workers,” he said. “We were all assigned to an on-the-field coach and I worked with Coach Swinney in that capacity. I was there when Bowden left and Swinney was named interim coach. It was a unique time.”

While he didn’t put on a uniform, Lybrand brought a wealth of experience to the Tigers program. Growing up in Greenwood S.C. as the youngest of three football-mad boys, he was raised on the field, holding his own against his big brothers. At Greenwood High School, he played varsity football as a captain under South Carolina Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer Shell Dula.

Under the tutelage of two of South Carolina’s greatest coaches, Lybrand found his calling as the man holding the clipboard.

“The biggest thing I learned from Coach Swinney was make sure you treat people right; that includes other coaches and players. He always had a plan for everyone in the building down to me, and I was the lowest on the totem pole,” he said. “I tell people I’m probably the most blessed coach ever because I played for one legend and worked for another.”

That coaching pedigree served him well, starting with a stint at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee working with Ken Sparks before he shifted to high school football. After seasons in Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Charlotte he was drawn to Beaufort by then-coach Devonte Hollman. 

“I knew my path was always going to be in South Carolina, and I really wanted to get back here,” he said. “When the opportunity came up in Beaufort, it was perfect. I love the Lowcountry. My uncle was a preacher in Beaufort.”

That kismet proved to be a two-way street, with Lybrand bringing Beaufort High School to new heights with a championship appearance in 2021 and a championship win in 2022. While the next few years didn’t quite recapture that magic, Lybrand sees the season ahead as one to look out for.

“I think you just kind of reset as a head coach. You make some changes. And we’ve changed some things, but the core stays the same. We didn’t do a whole lot differently in 2023 than we did in 2022, but you have some close games and some injuries. It happens like that sometimes,” he said. “You don’t want to throw out everything and start making irrational decisions when the things you’ve done have worked in the past. You just try to look at the program and think about what needs to change and what we need to stick with. That’s what we’ve done this off season.”

Beaufort High School: What to expect

Coach Bryce Lybrand delivered a couple of legendary playoff runs to start out the decade, with a championship appearance in 2021 and an outright win in 2022. After taking his celebratory Gatorade bath, he began building on that hot streak. Unfortunately, the next two seasons wouldn’t quite live up to that lofty expectation, with the Eagles going 7-5 and 2-9. 

But don’t count Bryce Lybrand or the Eagles out just yet. Sticking with what has worked, this coach has a few aces up his sleeve for the coming season. 

“Our tackle Kenshon Speaks is a great player who has started in every game including the championship game. He’s a great player who’s become a great leader,” said Lybrand. “And Chaz Brown, our defensive end, is a great leader, a great pass rusher and really disruptive.”

So which game is Lybrand most focused on heading into the new season?

“We play a pretty tough schedule, so we take it one game at a time,” he said. “But we play Fort Dorchester at home. That’s the one we’re going to bring a lot to.”