Lance Dixon, Toledo Football News: Draft Scout Player News

08/18/22 - ILB Lance Dixon, rSr/2025, Toledo

West Virginia's base 4-2-5 defensive alignment is much more difficult to pin down and classify than the simple linemen-linebackers-secondary sequence of numbers often used to describe base formations. That reflects the growing trend of many defenses, which are required to adapt to the spread and multiple formations employed by most offenses, but it's also indicative of the need to adjust to the abilities of the defenders in the system. For transfer players, such as WVU linebacker Lance Dixon, that process isn't always immediate. Dixon came to WVU after two seasons (2019-20) at Penn State, in which he appeared in 12 games and played mostly on the interior of the defense. While he wasn't ill-suited to that spot, it didn't take the best advantage of his speed, which he is able to put to better use in WVU's system. Part of a two-linebacker base scheme, he does have more ground to cover, including more drops into pass coverage.

Making those changes, he admits, took a while. "It's definitely comfort level. It's also experience," he said, listing two of the biggest reasons for his more relaxed, more efficient play this past spring and in fall camp. "Having four years (of college) is a plus. Maybe it just took a little longer for me. Here I run a lot more and am able to show my speed a lot more. It's more one-'backer boxes, two-'backer boxes." His progression was a linear one. He had just 12 tackles through WVU's first five games in 2021 but then built that total steadily, getting 24 in the last five, including 11 in the Mountaineers' bowl game. "I played the most snaps and had the most tackles in that game," said Dixon, noting that the raw numbers weren't the only method by which he judged his performance. "It was also in terms of the scheme and me doing my job." - Charleston Gazette-Mail

rSr/2025