Editor’s note: Collin Dixon has agreed to give readers an inside look at what goes into recruiting and the day-to-day trials and tribulations of being one of the most sought after players in Division I college football. Below is the second of a series of diary-type entries the Tallmadge junior wrote.
Catching up with Collin: Playing three sports
Growing up I have always played multiple sports.
I’ve started to appreciate that more seeing the impact they’ve had on my recruiting process and what I have learned from all of them.
A lot of coaches I’ve talked to like seeing recruits play multiple sports like baseball, basketball, wrestling, track, etc. This is because it allows them to go watch games in the winter and spring sports to see how you move, compete and act as a teammate in person rather than just on film.
More From Collin Dixon:Tallmadge star Collin Dixon learns college football recruiting is a full-time gig
I think playing multiple sports is something that all athletes should do. In my case I play football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and I run track in the spring.
Multi-sport athletes are able to improve their speed, agility, strength and athleticism without doing the repetitive drills that the offseason consists of.
There are advantages to being versatile
Playing multiple sports has allowed me to not burn out like some people that play and train for just one sport year-round might.
Different sports also teach you lessons that you can use in real life. It also allows you to be coached and learn from many different people with different coaching styles, expectations and how to adapt to each, as well as give you different team aspects.
For example, while football and track are their own families, they are usually large teams so you don’t really get as close to every single teammate like you would in basketball, which has a much smaller team.
When football ended, I jumped right into basketball, [and] my recruitment also took off at that time.
January was the busiest month of my recruiting process so far with schools like Indiana, Illinois, Duke, Akron and others offering me scholarships. January was also the first time since the fall that recruits were allowed to visit schools.
Basketball and track brought football reward
I went on several unofficial visits in January and February. On the visits I was able to see the facilities, spend the day around the coaches and other recruits.
These visits have been the most important part of the recruiting process for me.
Every school has great facilities, all the best equipment, and they all do their best to show off their school but getting to meet the people and seeing the atmosphere has been what I have enjoyed the most.
When I go to college these are the people that I will be spending the majority of my time with and I want to make sure they’re genuine and really care. My favorite part about visiting schools – other than learning about the school and meeting people – is taking my brother and dad with me to all of them. They get excited when I tell them where we’re going next.
— Collin Dixon, Tallmadge student, wide receiver and strong safety
