2017 Player Profiles: David Horst

Take yourself back to the day you found out Real Salt Lake had signed David Horst. I bet I can guess one of your first thoughts. It was probably something along the lines of, “Wow. We managed to find someone just as massive as Jamison Olave to replace him at center back.”

One of RSL’s 2016 offseason goals was to find reinforcements on defense, which they did. Although some of them were found within our own locker room, one of the people we brought in was “The Horse” David Horst.

Horst played for RSL from 2008-2010 before going to Portland and Houston for six seasons, and now he’s back in Salt Lake. It has been a bit of a weird pattern for him here. He’s started a handful of games and just been a substitute in some others. There wasn’t one specific job for him when he got in the game during the 2017 season, but whatever he was asked to do, he did well. He never quite got to be a consistent starter alongside Justen Glad after Marcelo Silva was signed in July, but he was always solid in his performances.

During the 2017 season David got himself just one assist, but what an assist it was. I’m sure you all know which goal he assisted on: the Kyle Beckerman goal in Los Angeles on September 30th. After being subbed on because Marcelo Silva got a straight red in the 14th minute, David assisted our captain to salvage us a point against LA Galaxy.

Besides some great play on the field, Horst really got involved with the fans. Doing multiple appearances, including one on the night of Real Monarchs’ first ever playoff game, he also started a podcast with Chad Barrett called The Horse, The Bear, and the Lion.

All in all, David had a great 2017 for RSL and was one of the less-appreciated offseason signings. Hopefully we will see him continue to grow with our club in 2018.