Scoring sensation Tyler Brown transferring from Valley Center to Derby

Tyler Brown, the basketball scoring sensation from Valley Center, is transferring to Derby for his senior season and expects to be eligible to compete in football, basketball, and track and field.

Although he cannot enroll at Derby until Aug. 1, Brown expects to be immediately eligible since his family moved into the Derby school district.

Brown was an Eagle All-Metro selection and All-Class 5A selection last season after scoring 50 points in a game and averaging 29.4 points at Valley Center. He also caught 21 passes for 377 yards and four touchdowns for Valley Center’s football team, then qualified and scored a medal in the state track and field meet in the high jump, pole vault, and long jump.

“I’m pretty excited and I’m just looking at this as another step in life,” Brown said. “It’s pretty tough though because I’ve gone to Valley all the way from kindergarten to junior year. It’s hard to leave all of my friends and everyone who has helped me in school and my sports career. But I’m excited for the next step.”

Brown will play for Derby basketball coach Brett Flory, who was Valley Center’s coach from 2005-11. Although Brown never played under Flory, he did attend youth camps under Flory’s direction growing up in Valley Center.

“From the time he was a little kid at our camps in Valley, you could see that Tyler had a very bright future,” Flory said. “He was a very, very driven kid at a young age and he still has that drive.”

Brown’s scoring punch will be a welcomed addition to Derby, which graduated its top three scorers from a 17-5 team and will be a sophomore-heavy team this upcoming season.

After Brown’s family decided to move to Derby at the end of May, he has been practicing with Derby’s basketball and football teams this summer.

“We’re very fortunate to have a player of Tyler’s caliber join our program,” Flory said. “He has been a dream fit for us so far and all of the guys really like him, plus we all know what kind of a player he is on top of that. He’s been doing a wonderful job of blending with our guys and developing chemistry. He’s almost been unselfish to a fault.”

Although Brown has scored more than 1,000 points the last two seasons, Valley Center was 15-27 in those seasons and failed to qualify for the state tournament. Derby is 99-34 in six seasons under Flory.

Chasing that kind of success excites Brown, as well as the prospect of playing at the Class 6A level.

“I’m just hoping that I can prove that I’m a true point guard and that I’m capable of playing at the highest possible level,” Brown said.

This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Scoring sensation Tyler Brown transferring from Valley Center to Derby."