By: Garrison Ryfun

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Head coach Rocky Hidalgo is entering his 13th season as head coach of the Glynn Academy Red Terrors, and just wrapped up spring practice on Thursday, May 14, with the annual spring game.

For Hidalgo, the biggest takeaway from the spring was that the Terrors were able to get quality work in, stay healthy, and evaluate some of the younger players on the roster.

“You know, I thought we had a really good spring for the most part,” Hidalgo said.

“Got in there with no injuries, that’s the most important thing. It was very competitive. The spring game was very physical. Our line of scrimmage play, we have a lot of potential up there. We’ve got to get better on the offensive line from the spring game, which isn’t uncommon. I feel like working on some depth pieces is a big chunk of what we’re going to do. And we had a chance to really work on our young kids, which is why I like spring. You get a chance to coach your young kids when there’s no bullets flying. But all in all, I was pleased with the effort with our kids.”

Hidalgo pointed to several players who stood out during spring practice, beginning with Ayden Wilson, a dynamic player on both sides of the ball.

“I think Ayden Wilson had a really good spring,” Hidalgo said. “Max Noonan wasn’t here for the majority of it because he was playing baseball. But Ayden had a really good spring at quarterback. He got some time at fullback when Max came back, some linebacker. He’s a kid that could play a number of positions for us and go out there and do a good job. I think he was one that had a good spring. Zach Cox is another kid on the D-line and at tight end, he had a really good spring. Mikey Tyler also had a good spring at linebacker. He’s a young kid that’s really found a position and ran around well and did some really good things.”

Last season, the Terrors switched to a flexbone option offense. This new offense not only fit the personnel for Glynn Academy, but also led to them averaging 29.6 points per game which is eighth-best in school history and second best under Rocky Hidalgo.

Speaking about the flexbone offense going into year two, Hidalgo pointed to the returning experience Glynn has in the backfield as a reason for optimism.

“I think we’ve got our quarterback back, Caiden Robinson back, Cooper Reiss, Ayden Wilson to run the football. Ian Pomiechowski back and Brock Wilson who played a bunch for us at halfback.” Head Coach Rocky Hidalgo said.

“So we’ve got some pieces in there to go out there and hand the ball to. We’ve got to develop some kids at wide receiver a little bit to be able to block and catch the football, but other than that, I like our personnel. We’ve got a chance to be a pretty good offensive football team.”

One of those key returning pieces is Max Noonan, the Terrors starting quarterback, who led the offense with impressive poise as a sophomore last season. Although Noonan did not get much practice time this spring due to Glynn Academy baseball’s deep playoff run, Hidalgo said his performance in limited action was still encouraging.

“Yeah, he did some really good things in the scrimmage for only practicing two days,” Hidalgo said.

“I feel really good about the two quarterbacks that we have. We have two really, really good quarterbacks that I feel like we can go and compete with either one of them. That’s a good problem to have. Max is a tough kid. He’s got a lot of moxie. All those intangibles you want, on top of being a really talented player.”

While spring practice gave Hidalgo a chance to evaluate the physicality of his team, the focus now shifts to what Glynn needs to improve over the summer. For the Terrors, that starts with developing the passing game and improving conditioning.

“We’ve got to work on throwing the football,” Hidalgo said. “The spring for us is about running the ball, physicality, and run defense. The summer is about pass defense, working on our passing game, and all those perimeter aspects. I want to see us get better at those things. That’s a big part of it. Our conditioning’s got to get better. We’re going to have a lot of guys who are going to be playing on both sides of the football, so we’ve got to be prepared to play 80 snaps week one or two of the season,” Hidalgo said.

Glynn will also have several position battles to sort out before the season begins, with Hidalgo pointing first to the secondary.

“I think we’ve got to find a free safety. That’s the biggest thing,” Hidalgo said. “Trying to figure out who that guy is going to be in the secondary. We’ve got some guys competing at the other quarterback position. And then who’s going to go out there and do the things necessary to get on the field at halfback? We’ve got about six or seven kids that have a chance to go out there and play. See which of those guys are going to go out there and earn some playing time.”

Glynn Academy opens the season against the Calvary Day Cavaliers on August 20, 2026.