Drew Dixon watched in January as Rhett Rodriguez received — and accepted — a scholarship offer from his father, Rich Rodriguez, and the Arizona Wildcats.
Dixon was resigned to his fate. After all, how many quarterbacks can a school bring in one recruiting class? More specifically, how many could they possibly want from Tucson?
“For a little bit there, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get that offer,” said Dixon, a star at Sabino. “I thought maybe it was out of the question. Me and my coach (Jay Campos) thought that.”
Dixon was wrong — the Wildcats want him. And they aren’t the only ones.
UA assistant coach Calvin Magee offered Dixon a scholarship late last month. San Jose State and Hawaii offered him later the same day. Now, Colorado State is in pursuit of Dixon as well, and he’s expected to add more offers over the course of his senior season at Sabino.
People are also reading…
“All three on the same day!” Dixon exclaimed. “I got my first offer, then in my first day of getting my first offer, I got two other offers. It was just like, it didn’t feel real at first. I was just thinking, ‘What the heck? Is this real?’ ”
Dixon is the hottest prospect in Tucson, and for good reason. He was a standout for Sabino last season, passing for 1,146 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushing for 12 touchdowns. He even caught a touchdown pass.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 195-pound Dixon could play a number of positions in college. The UA is interested in him as either a quarterback or wide receiver, he said. The Wildcats already have two quarterbacks — Rhett Rodriguez and San Diego’s Braxton Burmeister — committed for 2017.
“Whatever is best for me in college,” Dixon said, “that’s what I’ll play.”
Dixon has a chance to be the latest in a trend of Tucsonans to commit to the UA. Cam Denson, Kaelin Deboskie and Justin Holt all committed to Arizona in recent years out of Salpointe Catholic, although Deboskie has since left the program. From Sabino, two of Dixon’s former teammates — Andrew Mike and Matt Bushman — had offers from Arizona and other Pac-12 schools. Mike wound up at Florida, Bushman at BYU.
Dixon appears to be on that level.
“I just feel blessed,” Dixon said. “My whole life I’ve always wanted to go as far as I can with my football career, and I’ve just been working hard.
“It’s a great opportunity to just be one of those kids to get one of the first offers in Tucson. This feels great.”
If all goes well, there’s a good chance Dixon winds up in cardinal and navy.
As a kid growing up in Tucson, Dixon was a Wildcats fan. During his junior season in 2015, he attended every home game.
Over the summer, he visited Arizona’s football facilities on campus and loved them.
Dixon has attended a few of the UA’s spring practices. After the first one, he called his mother.
“I was like, ‘Geez, U of A, they really got me now,’ ” Dixon said. “Everything I saw and the way they really want me to go there, it’s pretty awesome.”
Dixon will likely wait until next year to pick a school. He said he wants to enjoy the recruiting process, prove himself to some more schools and garner some more offers along the way.
But odds are, it will all come back to Arizona.
“This upcoming year, I just want to get to that elite performance every game, to where I’m really showing that I can play Division I football,” Dixon said.
“And out of all the schools that’ll be interested in me during my senior year, (Arizona) will be a top school.”
Extra points
• In addition to Dixon, the Wildcats had a few other visitors at their open practice Friday in Arizona Stadium.
That included four-star running back Drake Beasley, unrated defensive lineman Chris Green and running back Chance Bell from California, defensive end Odua Isibor from Phoenix and tight end Bryce Gilbert from Gilbert.
