By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Calling Dalton Rushing a stud recruit could be an understatement. Listed 6-feet, 1-inches tall and 205 pounds, the 17-year-old Brighton Cardinals has been on the recruiting radar of several Division I teams and some professional scouts for the last three years. Despite powerful programs like Mississippi State, Arkansas, LSU and Alabama seeking his services, Rushing decided to remain a Cardinal by signing with The University of Louisville. On Nov. 27, Rushing made it official in the Brighton High School Library with coaches, friends and family present like Kerry Sweeney, Ryan Wood, Reed Spicer, and Chandler, Melissa, Logan and Joe Rushing. “I really like the atmosphere in Louisville and how the coaches have treated me,” Dalton said. “It’s unbelievable. “The whole campus is laid back,” he continued. “I’m not very big on things being pushed together. I’m very claustrophobia. I kind of like how it’s all spread out. And it’s a big baseball school. You’re going to get a lot of respect for what you do there.” The Louisville Cardinals are led by Head Coach Dan McDonnell and play in the ACC in Division I. The Cardinals play in Jim Patterson Stadium with a capacity of 2,500. The facility opened in 2005. It was about 10 years later Rushing became a priority for Louisville. The Cardinals started to display interest in the Brighton native when he was about 15 years old. Rushing started playing the game at 4 years old in the Haywood County Parks and Recreation. Then he became a Memphis Tiger grooming his skills in travel baseball. “I didn’t truly realize myself until I was 14, 15 years old I could go to another level,” Rushing acknowledged. “I was told at 12-year-old, ‘Hey you’re really special. You can make something out of this.’ I realized when I was about 14 years old I could actually make a job out of this. That’s when it actually clicked.” Rushing plays the vital position of catcher. He is known for having a cannon right arm to throw out runners. Rushing bats left at the plate hitting for power to all parts of the field. He does all this with a frame suitable for football, his second sport at Brighton. “I guess I’m naturally bigger,” Rushing said of his frame. “Then again Coach Wick had us up here working out at 6 a.m. three times a week. I guess you can say that helps out also a bit. “When (scouts) come look at me, they really don’t want to see what I can do physically,” he added. “They want to see how I can control a field, how I can command my players and help my players by making them better instead of just making myself better.. The catcher position is basically a mental aspect. It’s on your head. If your are not right in your head, then you’re not there on the field. That’s another big thing that they look at throughout the years.” Being a winner also gained Rushing more attention from scouts. Brighton won the District 13-3A championship and set a school record wins to start a season. A part of that 2018 team was Dalton’s little brother Logan and a trio of senior pitchers Will Dunlap, Brett Wilkins and Eli Davis. “It means a little more this year because we both actually get to step back out there and help lead the team after losing so much talent,” Rushing said. “Then again we have lot of talent on the team and lots of room to do work. “I expect for us to still put of a lot of runs,” he added. “We have a lineup just as good as any team in our Region. We’re just as good as a lot of teams who went to State. We’re going need to have a few kids step up on the mound. We’ve lost three good arms from last year. All three are at the college level right now. It was three big loses, but we have three or four guys who can step up and take their spots.” With his college future secured, Rushing said now he can mentally focus on being the on-the-field leader and off-the-field leader his current Cardinals will need for success in 2019.
“It’s going to be more of a work ethic thing,” Rushing concluded. “With those three guys, they would step up on the mound, there was not much you needed to do to help them with. Especially last year, their senior years. They all had big senior years. This year we’re going to have a younger pitching staff. So it will be more of the mental aspect of keeping them in the game, help them out a little bit.”
