Mark Pszonak contributed to this report.
Former Penn State linebacker Lance Dixon was thought to be a lock for Michigan when the Wolverines hired his old high school coach. However, other teams are pursuing him harder.
Recruiting: After taking numerous visits to Penn State, including an official one, Dixon committed to the Nittany Lions. His only other official visit was to Wisconsin, but he also considered Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State.
With the Nittany Lions: Dixon made 10 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and a forced fumble in 2020 following a true freshman campaign in 2019 in which he played in three games and had two tackles.
Potential landing spots: Dixon is considering West Virginia, Michigan State, TCU and Temple right now. Michigan hasn't been in contact aside from his old high coach Ron Bellamy so his focus is elsewhere.
Farrell’s Take: Dixon is a talented kid who was expected to have a bigger role this past season with Micah Parsons opting out but he didn't have a productive year overall. He's more of a natural SAM linebacker to me and struggled at times at Will. He's at his best attacking the football and line of scrimmage and can make plays in the backfield with his anticipation. He's a Power Five talent and will likely land there although Temple isn't a bad fit at the Group of Five level.
Impact Rating: 6.6 out of 10
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IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and mange their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.
