With the crack of a bone, Butte High’s promising 2015 football season turned into a nightmare.

The team entered the season with a 6-foot-5, 258-pound senior quarterback named Dylan Cook. Boy did he throw a beautiful deep ball. I watched the likes of Ryan Leaf and Dave Dickenson throw the ball in Montana high school football, and Dylan was at least their rival.

While he did not quite put up the wins and the statistics like his older brother Dallas, who led the Bulldogs to the 2012 Class AA State title, Dylan offered so much promise as the fall approached for the Bulldogs.

Those high hopes came crashing down in the first quarter of Butte High’s first game of the season at Naranche Stadium on Aug. 28, 2015. It took a handful of Billings Skyview players to bring Dylan down when he ran with the ball for a short gain.

The weight of those players landing on top of him snapped his collarbone in half. To add even more injury to the Bulldogs, backup quarterback and potential star receiver Paul Campbell tore an ACL in the same quarter.

So, Bulldog fans who were looking for big things — literally — at quarterback, were suddenly watching 5-8, 140-pound sophomore Ty Peterson behind center.

Peterson, who went on to Bulldog legend in the pole vault, put up a good fight. The 2015 Bulldogs were fun to watch. They played hard every game, just like every team coached by Arie Grey does.

But the season did not end in storybook fashion like it did with Dallas Cook three years earlier.

From the second the 2014 season ended, we were looking forward to the 2015 campaign. Dylan passed for 3,124 yards and 30 touchdowns during the 2014 season, which ended with an inspired home win over Bozeman to end the regular season.

Butte High did not qualify for the playoffs.

Only Dylan’s brother Dallas passed for more yards and TDs in a season for the Bulldogs.

Dylan had so much potential at quarterback that Dallas was only halfway joking when he said he was not sure he could hold him off to keep his starting job as the Bulldogs began their title defense in 2013. Dallas told me that knew he better play well or his brother just might replace him.

We all figured Dylan would draw some bigtime attention from college coaches looking for a quarterback. But it is hard to earn a scholarship when your arm is in a sling and you are standing on the sideline.

So, Dylan ended up signing with MSU-Northern to play quarterback.

At the time, the Northern program was in shambles, and Dylan never got much of a chance to prove himself as a passer. So, after two seasons in Havre, Dylan transferred to the University of Montana before the 2018 season.

He also moved from quarterback to the offensive line, a move that is almost unheard of. There really is no other position switch in sports that compares to it.

It was an unselfish move, too. In making the transition, Dylan knew he was moving to a position where your name is pretty much only called when you make a mistake. His new position was all guts and very little glory.

In 2019, Dylan played in 13 games for the Griz, earning a starting job early in the season. That is when he made another transition. This time he went from a walk-on player to a scholarship athlete.

After the COVID year of 2020, Dylan returned to the Griz line in 2021, and he was one of the top offensive tackles in the Big Sky Conference. He also earned a nomination for the William Campbell Trophy, which is known as the “Academic Heisman.”

In 2022, Dylan went to camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, earning a spot on the practice squad. The next year, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the all-time great franchises in professional sports.

He spent the 2023 season with the Steelers before bouncing off and on the roster in 2024. Late in camp this past August, the Steelers released Dylan, only to bring him back to the practice squad.

Through the ups and downs and the hard knocks of NFL life, Dylan just kept his head down and worked hard, hoping that his day would come.

It finally did.

On Saturday, Dylan was elevated from the practice squad to the active roster ahead of the Steelers’ showdown for first place in the AFC North in Baltimore. The move was made because of an injury to Calvin Anderson, and Dylan was slated to back up both starting tackles.

In the third quarter Sunday, Andrus Peat, who was starting in place of left tackle Broderick Jones, suffered an injury in the third quarter against the Ravens. I heard about that injury when my brother, a Steelers fan, called me.

“Dylan Cook is going in,” he said.

I rushed back to the television to watch as No. 60 settled in at left tackle for a key third-and-5. It was his first official NFL snap.

A few plays later, the Steelers were in the end zone. Jaylen Warren scored on a 38-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers, and the Steelers held on to beat the Ravens 27-22.

Dylan, who grew up a Bears fan probably cursing the quarterback he was now protecting, played the rest of the game. He more than held his own in what is one of the most important positions in football. Quarterback, of course, is the most important position. Next comes the guy who protects the quarterback’s blind side. That was Dylan.

Since Dylan was protecting the 42-year-old Rodgers, his job even more important. And he nailed it.

As I watched No. 60 for the Steelers play with the big boys, I could not help but think about the great guy Dylan is. During the offseason, you can often find him at Butte High sporting events, cheering on the Bulldogs.

He will sit down and talk with just about anybody who recognizes him. Even though he has been an NFL player the past four seasons, Dylan has the humility of a janitor at the games.

You can also often find Dylan in the Bulldog weight room, working out and offering encouragement to some of the current Bulldogs who want to follow in his footsteps.

I thought about that with every snap he took for the Steelers. I thought about that season-opening game at Naranche Stadium in 2015.

As I roamed the sideline taking photos that night, I kept an eye on Dylan. He had his football pants still on, but his jersey and shoulder pads were off, replaced by a sling. He was cheering on his teammates.

Even though he had to know his season was over and his football dreams could be heading down the drain, he was still upbeat and positive as the Bulldogs pulled out a 24-21 win over Billings Skyview in double overtime.

I thought about how that was the only win of the season for Butte High. I thought about how Dylan could only watch as the next nine games fell into the L column.

If Dylan felt sorry for himself, though, he never showed it. He kept that positive attitude all season long. He was always a team-first guy.

I could not help but think of where Dylan would have been had he not suffered that injury so early in the first game of his senior year. I wondered if a better college team would have given him a real chance to play quarterback.

I wondered what would have happened if they saw that beautiful ball he would throw.

I could not help but wonder if that bad break led him to Pittsburgh, where he helped the Steelers beat an archrival in the heat of a playoff race.

I could not help but wonder if that promising 2015 Butte High season had a storybook ending after all.

— Bill Foley, who for the first time in his life is hoping the left tackle protects Aaron Rodgers, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.