PEORIA, Ariz. — The 35th season of Friday Night Fever, Arizona's No. 1 and longest-running high school football show, has now come to a close and it is time to name our 2024 Defensive Player of the Year.
This year, that honor belongs to Liberty High School linebacker Hudson Dunn.
Dunn immediately became a standout player for the Lions, earning a promotion up to varsity after his freshman year. Since then, Dunn has helped the Lions to back-to-back 12-1 seasons and a pair of Open Division state championships.
At 6'1" and 210 pounds, the junior has emerged as one of the top defensive players in Arizona and still has another season to develop before taking his talents to the Division I level.
“I moved here to Arizona when I was about 12 years old and I kind of grew up in the Liberty program," Dunn said. "It means so much to me just playing with my teammates. It really just brings me a joy. I can’t really describe it. It’s like nothing else in my life. I got pulled up during my sophomore year and it means so much to me. I got an opportunity to start and just build relationships with the coaches and the players and we ended that season with a state championship so that meant the world to me.”
Even with new players coming into the program, Liberty was able to maintain success and make another run at the state title with Dunn contributing to the Lions’ ferocious defense.
He finished his junior season with 13.5 quarterback sacks, leading the 6A Conference in that category, along with 57 total tackles and 24 tackles for loss. Dunn has already received more than a dozen offers from programs across the country including in-state universities Arizona and Arizona State.
He would describe himself to prospective coaches as an honest and hardworking player who they can trust on the field.
Those attributes and his talent are among the reasons why Dunn is one of Arizona’s most coveted athletes from the class of 2026 and our Defensive Player of the Year.
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