AllSportsTucson.com is running a series of brief stories about Southern Arizona high school senior student-athletes entering this school year. The series, first-person accounts from the student-athletes, continues with a profile on Ironwood Ridge free safety Dylan Cook.
Dylan Cook
School: Ironwood Ridge
College scholarship offers: Carroll, Morehead State, Northern State and South Dakota of Mines.
Honors/background: 2019 AllSportsTucson.com All-Southern Arizona First-Team selection at defensive back. At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, one of the region’s leaders with five interceptions last season.
I first started to play football on the Oro Valley Dolphins flag team when I was 5 years old.
Once I started to get into tackle football, I always played up in age group because my birthday is right on the edge of when school got out. My parents decided to have me be older in a class rather than the youngest so I always played kids in the class above me.
I really started to notice how much potential I had when I was in the seventh grade. That’s when I started to take football serious.
One highlight of that year was in the city championship game. We played the Broncos. I came downhill to hit Bijan Robinson and made him fumble the ball. That was the moment in my career where it clicked in my mind that I could be special.
When I got to high school, I knew I wanted to go somewhere and play college football. That’s when I started to focus on football only. At that point, football became a year-round sport and I haven’t stopped working since.
I became a lot more aggressive on the field each year. That’s what I take pride in, being the most physical player on the field.
My greatest hope for this year is that we get to play some sort of a season. Whether that is five games or a whole season, I just want to have one last ride with my team! What I like most about my team this year is how talented and how close we are to each other. Since we are so close to each other, when we get out on that field, we compete like it’s an actual game.
My goals after I’m done with high school is to play college football and hopefully play in the NFL if I get the opportunity. If not, I’d love to become an FBI agent!
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