Multiple facets of Brinton's skill set are taking Blue Comets to new heights

ASHEBORO — There are some people who are just born to do something special. Asheboro High School’s Dallas Brinton was born to play football. And he does it impressively. Make that spectacularly. That is more of what fans see every Friday night the Blue Comets take the field. A spectacular player in a program on the rise.

The three-year starter for the Blue Comets, the last two at quarterback, is built mentally and physically for the demanding sport. Confident, intelligent and extremely talented, he is one of the reasons the Blue Comets will take a 4-1 Triad Area Athletic Conference record and 8-1 overall mark into their regular-season finale at home against Southern Guilford Friday night.

Whether he was hauling in passes as a sophomore, or throwing touchdown passes or running with a purpose from his quarterback position during the past two seasons, it always seems there are at least two No. 2 jerseys on the football field at the same time for the Blue Comets.

But it’s all Brinton.

And it all started out in Arizona, when he began playing tackle football as a 4-year-old.

“I had to wait until I was four, that’s the earliest they allow you to play tackle football,” Brinton said after Friday night’s win over Northeast Guilford. “Couldn’t play any earlier.”

If he could have, he certainly would have.

He began his high school career in Arizona, where he starred on the freshmen team, was called up to the jayvees where he scored three touchdowns in one game and was elevated to the varsity squad for the playoffs.

Then he found out about the move to Asheboro, a destination that seemed a world away for Brinton.

“I met with his mom when they were moving here to buy a house and she told me she had a couple of sons who played football,” Asheboro High School varsity football coach Calvin Brown said. “A freshman and a sophomore. We really didn’t know much about them.”

Dallas was the sophomore, his younger brother Connor the freshman.

“It was not great, I was mad about it,” said Dallas, who experienced the feelings most rising sophomores would have when finding out he’s heading to a new school in a different state. “Just picking up and leaving from where you spent your whole life. My sophomore year was tough on and off the field.”

But he made an instant impact with the AHS coaching staff. Despite suffering a broken hip while using a Slip-n-slide prior to his sophomore season, he played just a few games at the jayvee level before both brothers were called up to varsity. While Connor made a mark in the offensive backfield, Dallas was used as a wideout. 

“Dallas was a really good receiver, you could tell right away he was a gamer,” Brown said. “A tough kid who would do whatever to be successful.”

The four wins registered in 2024 were the most for AHS since a nine-win season in 2016, snapping a seven-year playoff drought.

The following season, the Blue Comets were looking for a quarterback. It’s really not a surprise who stepped up.

“I think I was the first one to step up and say I wanted to do it,” Brinton said. “Coming off my sophomore year, I wanted to be the guy who gets the ball in his hands a lot. When he started talking about someone playing quarterback, I stepped in.”

Brinton had quarterback experience at his previous high school, but it was a system that ran a Wing-T offense, not much for a quarterback to do except hand the ball off to a running back. He spent that offseason and preseason working on his fundamentals and the required footwork needed. 

“He just wants to play football,” Brown said. “He has learned to play the quarterback position very well. He is seeing the field and making reads a lot better. He wants the ball in his hands and he’s going to will the team to win.”

The Blue Comets found a diamond with his ability to run from the QB position. As a junior, he rushed for 1,130 yards and 17 touchdowns while throwing for 1,062 yards and eight more TDs. The Blue Comets qualified for the playoffs for the second straight season.

This year, Brinton has thrown for 1,127 yards and seven TDs while rushing for 868 yards, an average run of 6.5 yards a carry, and 17 touchdowns. His throwing percentage is at 61.7 percent.

“We run him a lot, that is our best option and we are going to do what we have to do to get a win,” Brown said. “The one good thing you have when you run your quarterback is you have 10 guys blocking. When you run your running back, you have nine. He helps us get that extra blocker and when it gets late in a game, he wants the ball and it’s tough to take the ball out of his hands.”

Last Friday night was a typical Brinton game. In a 35-21 win over Northeast Guilford, the first time AHS had ever won at NEGHS, Brinton opened the scoring with a 39-yard scoring strike to his brother, and added touchdown runs of 41 and 20 yards as the Blue Comets grabbed a 35-7 second-half lead. He rushed for 151 yards and threw for 125 more.

“It’s just self trust,” he said. “Knowing all the things that I do off the field. On Friday nights, it’s the things I do off the field and in the offseason practice that gives me confidence.”

Confidence has never been a problem, and that is a good thing.

“There is a fine line and sometimes I have to reel him in a little so it just remains confident,” Brown said. “But you want that. It’s a tough game, a physical game. You have to be confident. That’s his personality.”

On the field it is.

“I think it’s a switch for me,” he said about his intensity on the football field, and there is plenty of intensity. “My late father loved football, named me after the Cowboys. I have always had that fire, something different when on the field. 

“But I think there is a fine line and I do cross over it sometimes. But I think if you’re not confident, if you don’t think you’re the best player on the field, it’s going to be rough. Sometimes I get too overconfident, but I’m trying to be that guy to get fired up and be a leader.”

What Brinton has provided the Blue Comets over the years is something very few have given their teams. Every player has expectations. Some players fall short, some meet those expectations, some exceed them. Brown said Brinton falls in the latter category, although Brinton himself may not see it that way.

“If you ask him, he’ll say no,” Brown said of Brinton exceeding expectations. “But I think he has because I didn’t know what to expect. He’s definitely exceeded our expectations from the quarterback position. I knew he could run, he’s a good athlete. It’s great to see him throw for more yards this year than he did last year. He makes the right reads and keeps the clock going and keeps defenses honest.”

All that work on Friday night makes Saturday a well-needed day of rest.

“A lot of bed rest, a lot of bed rest,” Brinton said about what he does most Saturdays after he described feeling like he’s been in a ‘‘mini car accident” each game. “I just hang out and don’t do too much. Recover. Watch some film from the night before. Once we get to Wednesday, Wednesday is my day where I feel I am back to 100 percent.”

Brinton said playing with his younger brother has been special. Both have left their marks on both sides of the football.

“He’s awesome,” Dallas said of Connor. “He does so many things that don’t get noticed. The blocking he does for me and the team. When he gets the ball in his hands, great things happen. He’s such a leader in his actions and in what he’s supposed to do.”

Just like his older brother, someone who is meant to play football.