The quarterback crouches behind the center on a patch of chewed up practice field and barks out signals.

The sound of crashing shoulder pads can be heard as he takes the snap and hands the ball to the tailback, who squeezes through a small hole in the line before he is enveloped by the middle linebacker.

A whistle blows, ending the play.

The players huddle, then line up again for another go.

It's a typical scene on a high school football practice field in the fall.

If Penn State coach Joe Paterno and Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt have their way, that scene will play out on Butler County practice fields during the spring as well.

The two are putting their considerable clout behind an effort to convince the PIAA to allow spring football.

Butler County coaches, though, have mixed feelings about it.

Karns City coach Ed Conto is perhaps the most adamant against the idea, which was hatched by the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association as a way to improve the skills of a high school player and help him to get noticed by more colleges.

"It's a bad idea," Conto said. "It puts extra pressure on the kids, extra chance of injury. Let's face it, 99.9 percent of these kids aren't going to go pro."

At a school like Karns City, where many male athletes already play two sports during the spring season — baseball and track and field — adding a third for two weeks would be a logistical nightmare, Conto said.

Conto also questions whether a two-week practice in late May would do anything to improve a player's college prospects.

"If college coaches can't tell from video if a kid can play or not, they need to get into another business," he said.

Moniteau coach Jeff Campbell supports spring football.

Like Karns City, Moniteau is a small school that has many male athletes who play multiple sports.

Campbell said if the PIAA does approve spring football practice, he wouldn't make attendance mandatory.

But that doesn't mean the benefit would be lost, he said.

A player who does participate in spring practice can get a head start on refining his skills, and a young player can get noticed by what he does in the spring, Campbell said.

"It would be very beneficial in building depth," Campbell said. "I think it's a great opportunity. There's always a diamond in the rough."

Campbell said just being able to wear shoulder pads and helmets would go a long way toward improving technique.

"Throwing a ball, carrying a ball and catching a ball are completely different with pads on," Campbell said.

Seneca Valley coach Don Holl also is in favor of spring practice.

Holl said out-of-season play is as unique as it seems. Outdoor track athletes often participate in indoor track in the winter, and lacrosse and baseball players often play in the spring and fall, Holl said.

Why not football?

"Just about every sport these days is played year-round," Holl said. "The only one that not playing (out-of-season) is ours."

That's why the spring football debate has become a hot-button issue.

But it might all be moot.

PIAA executive director Brad Cashman said an association bylaw could nix any talk of spring football practice.

The bylaw states a sport can't operate to the detriment of other sports.

Track-and-field season doesn't end until Memorial Day weekend in the state. For the elite baseball teams, the season can run into mid-June.

"We don't see it happening, and mostly because it will be a detriment to the five other spring sports," PIAA assistant executive director Melissa Mertz told Rivals.com.

Butler coach Jim Rankin, who has 40 years of football coaching experience — 27 as a head coach — said he doesn't buy the plan because of the potential conflict with other sports.

"I just don't think it is feasible," Rankin said. "Not that I don't want it, but I don't think it will ever happen."

Florida, Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma allow high school football practice in the spring.

Rankin said there is a reason that goes beyond the football fever in those states.

"Weather," Rankin said. "Their weather is much better and their spring and winter sports are over so early."

Rankin is also skeptical about the claim Wannstedt made that spring practice could help a player get a scholarship.

"That's a fallback position," Rankin said. "If you have nothing else to say about it, that's what you say. You say a kid can get a scholarship."