Penn State football is on the board ten days into June and has two official visits on weekends throughout the process. Four-star cornerback, Daryus Dixson from Mater Dei High School in California, is the second cornerback to jump on board with the Nittany Lions for the Class of 2025, joining Pittsburgh native Xxavier Thomas.
On today’s recap, we’ll discuss his road to Penn State, the rarity of a California commitment, and what his highlight tape says about Dixson. If you haven’t yet, subscribe to Blue White Illustrated on YouTube so you don’t miss any breaking news videos when they happen. But you can always catch them embedded in these articles if you do.
Dixson joining Penn State as a cornerback
As Snyder detailed in his commitment breakdown, Dixson visited campus one time this past weekend. But cornerbacks coach Terry Smith laid much of the groundwork for this commitment this spring when he visited Dixson in California.
But it was Smith’s visit to Mater Dei during the spring contact period that helped convince Dixson and his family to check out Penn State for the first time.
*“I’ve been \[building\] a relationship with coach Terry Smith over the phone and then he came down to see me recently,” Dixson said\. “I love the energy and passion and love he has talking about the game of football\.”*
Check out the rest of Snyder’s interview here.
Dixson to play cornerback for Penn State
While it may be an odd place to start, Dixson will join the Nittany Lions as a cornerback. The 6-1, 180-pound athlete has some curious highlight film that throws his future position into question. It’s something we discussed in his Advanced Scouting profile last week.
However, there’s a clear and intentional hole in Dixson’s film. All but two of his reps are in zone coverage, and of his man coverage reps, only one is a pass play with a target. This tells us that their Mater Dei runs no man coverage, or Dixson is trying to hide his play in one-on-one situations.
We will show you that highlight film during today’s recap and explain why it may have caused a difference in the consensus On3 Industry Rankings and the internal rankings for On3. We also highlight what the tape says about Dixson’s football intelligence, understanding, and abilities to make plays off the ball from off coverage.
Check out the video for the rest of our breakdown.
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