Senior Spotlight: Dylan Bradshaw

This story originally appeared in GAMEDAY - Troy's Official Gameday Program

Family and football.

Those two words alone would give you an accurate depiction of Dylan Bradshaw's life growing up in Enterprise, Ala. More often than not, that's just the way it is when you grow up in Southeastern Alabama.

"Enterprise is a football town," Bradshaw said. "I know its cliché to say, but my whole life has revolved around football. I started playing when I was a little boy, just four or five years old. My entire family lives in Alabama, we're not scattered around the country so we are close. My childhood was family, friends and football, and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

To say that Bradshaw's life revolves around football would be putting it lightly as Troy football literally runs in the Bradshaw family. His uncle, Marty Gilley, played for the Trojans from 1983-86 and was a member of the 1984 NCAA Division II National Championship team.

"Because of [Gilley], my entire childhood was molded around Troy football," Bradshaw said. "I came to games as a kid. I grew up loving Troy and there was no way I was going anywhere else after high school. When you have an uncle like that, your childhood is molded around football. Everything we do back in Enterprise is about football. The world stops for it."

Bradshaw's world was shook to its core when his father, Brad, died of cancer when Bradshaw was only 15 years old. Gilley stepped into a father-figure role and helped Bradshaw navigate one of the toughest times of his life.

"Marty had always been a great uncle, but when my dad died, he really stepped up as a father figure," Bradshaw said. "He's more than an uncle, he's one of my greatest mentors. To this day, I still call him for advice when I need it."

The passing of his father forced the then 15-year old Bradshaw to grow up in a hurry.

"That summer, my brother Dalton left for college and my dad passed away, so it was just me and mom at home," Bradshaw said. "Before my dad passed, we had a deep conversation about how I had to grow up and take care of my mom."

It was a pivotal time in Bradshaw's life, but he used it to point himself in the right direction.

"Like so many things in life, it's all about your outlook," Bradshaw said. "You can either take it positively or you can take it negatively and then you go on from there."

"I didn't really have my priorities in line before he passed away. When my dad died, everything else clicked for me and my priorities shifted from hanging out with friends and doing other things, to football and school. I said to myself, 'Let's be really good at those two things and make my dad proud. Let's be mature and take care of mom.' It made me grow up fast."

Throughout it all, football was there to help Bradshaw navigate one of the most difficult times in his life.

"I'm scared to know what road I would have gone down if it wasn't for football," Bradshaw said. "When something traumatic happens in your life at such a young age, you either go up or you go down. Football is the reason that my life has been boosted since then. The game has always been there for me, and I love it. I wouldn't be here today without football."

"Football is the greatest teacher in life. There's no other game that can prepare you for the hard situations that life is going to throw at you like football. It's not always going to be what you want it to be, but it's about how you respond. Football has a great way of putting adversity in your face, on a smaller scale than life, but it shows you how to fight through it. Coach [Rusty] Whitt always asks us, 'How are you going to respond? When your back is against the wall, are you going to fight or turn your head into a corner?'"

Even today, six years after the death of his father, football remains a guiding force in Bradshaw's life, helping him tackle all the challenges that come with being a college student in 2020. Football is like a form of meditation for Bradshaw.

"Football has a way of calming me. When I go to practice, that's my 'me time.' I shut my phone in my locker from the time I get there to the time I leave. That's my time, and really it became that way after my dad died. Football was an avenue of success for me that I could use, not only to let out my frustrations, but it taught me how to roll with the punches."

As Bradshaw got down on a knee inside Veterans Memorial Stadium on July 25, it wasn't a big defensive lineman staring back at him, it was his girlfriend Elisabeth Hipps, a lifelong Trojan fan and recent Troy graduate.

Even with no fans inside the stadium, Bradshaw was more nervous in this moment than any in football game he ever played. Bradshaw took out the ring and and asked Hipps to marry him.

Troy Associate Director of Athletics for Communications and Creative Content Adam Prendergast aided in the surprise, as Hipps had been told by Bradshaw that Prendergast needed him on the field that afternoon to shoot a promotional video.

Troy football has always been a way of life for Bradshaw and Hipps, so it was only fitting for The Vet to play host to their engagement.

[Troy football] is kind of what brought us together," Bradshaw said. "[Hipps] is as big of a Troy fan as anyone I've ever met, growing up here and being around Troy her entire life. It was really special for her."

The engagement kicked off the 2020 season the right way for Bradshaw, now a senior, who leads an offensive line that has three new starters on it from a year ago.

It's easy for Trojan fans to spot the 6-3, 311-pound center on the field on Saturdays at The Vet. Not because of his size, but because of the hair protruding from beneath his helmet. Bradshaw's hair has become a landmark of sorts on the Troy offensive line.

Bradshaw hasn't cut his hair since the Wednesday before the 2017 season-opener at Boise State.

"That was the last time scissors, clippers or anything touched my hair," Bradshaw said. "I haven't had it trimmed or cut since my redshirt-freshman year."

Bradshaw, along with his then-roommate and Troy Football alum J.L. Gaston, agreed to grow their hair out together with plans donate it to Wigs for Kids, a nonprofit organization that serves children suffering from hair loss.

"We both agreed that we'd grow it out until we graduated and then we'd donate it," Bradshaw said. "We just knew that we wouldn't be able to have long hair when we're out of school, so we decided to go for it and make it for a good cause."

Rarely does Bradshaw act for himself. He even plays at a position whose purpose is to protect and clear the way for others. Everything he does is for a greater purpose, and his father has been with him every step of the way, on and off the field, during his standout career as a Trojan.

"I know he's smiling at me from above. He's had a front row seat to all of it. I do everything in my power to make him proud. Not just with football, but everything else in life too."

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