The first time wide receiver Kyron Hudson saw cornerback Daryus Dixson on the practice field, he knew he was a special player.
But that practice field wasn’t the one outside Penn State’s Lasch Building. It was located across the country at Mater Dei High School in California, where Hudson, a graduating senior committed to USC, first laid eyes on Dixson, an incoming freshman.
“He’s special,” Hudson said. “He’s been a guy since day one. He loves the game so much. He wants to learn from every single person; he even asks questions for the wide outs. ‘What do you think here? What do you think that he was doing here?’ So just little things like that.”
The two trained together during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Dixson — despite being four grades younger — wasn’t afraid to go head-to-head against the No. 22 ranked wide receiver in the 2021 recruiting class.
“Hungry kid, ready to work, and it’s crazy at his age, he was always going against me,” Hudson said. “So it was something special.”
Fast forward four years, and Dixson — a four-star prospect — was committed to Penn State as the team’s highest-rated cornerback recruit since Lamont Wade in 2017. He graduated high school early and enrolled in February, arriving on campus just months after Hudson transferred in from USC.
His talent was evident from the moment he arrived, earning praise from veteran cornerback A.J. Harris, a potential first-round draft pick, for his readiness to contribute.
“You can see somebody’s intentionality, right, when they’re not necessarily on the field, when they have to do those details,” Harris said. “And Daryus is somebody as a freshman that came in doing all the right things immediately, something that I didn’t do as a freshman. And you can see that his head is on the right way.”
As the offseason continued, it became increasingly obvious Dixson would play a role this season. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles expressed optimism for what Dixson brought to the position room and said the cornerback position was “the strength of our defense.”
Head coach James Franklin named Dixson one of the three initial players with the green light to burn their redshirt this season, and he saw 21 snaps in Week 1 against Nevada, including a knife tackle Franklin called a “thing of beauty.”
His performance earned him a bigger role last week against Florida International, when he saw 30 snaps, fourth most among cornerbacks and most among true freshmen.
It’s becoming increasingly clear Dixson won’t just burn his redshirt. He’ll play a sizable role in a cornerback room filled with talented, experienced players.
“Daryus has a high ceiling,” cornerback Kenny Woseley Jr. said Wednesday. “He’s a ball player. We have (Terry Smith) coaching and stuff, so he’s even making him better. I feel like Daryus just comes in, he does his work like everyone else, giving 110% on the field. I feel like that’s the best thing.”
