By Brittany Bowyer
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SCOTTSDALE — Horizon running back Dylan Brush isn’t the type of player who needs to be the loudest on the field to make his presence known. Only a sophomore in high school, he’s already established himself as one of the Huskies’ biggest assets, turning the promise he showed his freshman year into results.

Brush has already been playing the game for quite some time. He first started out with flag football when he was eight before transitioning to tackle football at the age of 12. Brush said in his 13U season, he started to realize he had some talent when it came to the sport.

Stepping foot on campus at Horizon just a short while later, Brush was able to surprise people with what he was capable of. He was one of only two freshmen to snag a spot on the varsity roster in 2025, and helped the team reach the 5A semifinals.

Not only did he have a spot on the roster, but he saw action in his freshman year, too. He finished the 2025 season with 101 carries for 902 yards and nine touchdowns. While it was good, Brush knew he was capable of having a breakout year in 2026, and put all his efforts into improving for when he returned to the gridiron. Not only did he push himself to perform on the track team, but he also excelled in the weight room during the offseason.

“He put some good, solid muscle on,” Horizona Head Football Coach Tyson Ditmore said. “The thing for him is he’s continued to put his muscle on but he’s also continued to get faster. There’s a little trick behind that. His dad’s a former athlete, so his dad knows how to kind of keep him in the right spots and right shape at times.”

“Outside of track, I do a lot of plyometrics outside of my house in my home gym just to work on speed and explosiveness,” Brush said. “I have my home gym I work out in, too.”

So far this year, Brush has rushed for 1,166 yards and 20 touchdowns on just 104 carries at the midway point of the regular season.

“I mean, he’s kind of our main feature right now,” Ditmore said. “I think his success, and he’s said it a million times he’s such a great kid, he said his success is only as much as his offensive line is really giving him. So he’s just a super humble kid and we’ve leaned on him a lot.”

“We have our left tackle, Liam McNeal,” Brush said. “He’s a three-star [prospect] and he has offers from ASU and Texas Tech. He’s really good. He’s six-foot-seven, 260-pounds. Then our whole O-line is younger. We have mostly all juniors and then one senior and one sophomore. So really only one returning starter from last year, but we have a great offensive line coach who makes them so much better throughout the whole season.”

Both Brush and Ditmore agree that Offensive Line Coach Clay Walker is one of the best to do it in the state.

“(Walker’s) been doing this, I think this is his 15th or 16th year,” Ditmore said. “He played at a really high level at the University of Washington, he’s coached here. He’s alumni here.”

For Brush, he said the biggest difference from his freshman to his sophomore year is his mindset.

“My mind through the game, if I make a bad mistake, last year I would get all in my head and mess up plays later on,” Brush said. “This year, if I make a mistake I just focus on the next play, and I’ve just matured a lot more.”

Brush has quickly become a leader on the team and someone the players look to for guidance. While Ditmore said Brush isn’t so much of a verbal leader, he does a great job of leading by example.

“He’s a super happy-go-lucky guy,” Ditmore said. “I mean, you would never be able to tell he’s the type of kid who almost has a thousand yards in four games and 17 touchdowns. He’s excited to be out there, he’s not overly loud, he does everything right. He’s first in a majority of his drills, and he’s got a big smile on his face all the time.”

Brush has big aspirations on the football field that extend beyond just a state championship ring. He not only wants to play in college, but in the pros, as well.

“My goal is to go to the NFL,” Brush said. “My goal this year is to get 2,000 yards and win state. But my goal is automatically to go to the NFL and college and all that.”

With such high aspirations in life, he’s driven by his desire to prove to everybody what he’s capable of.

“Just trying to prove that I can do it and become good,” Brush said.

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.