Ex-Volusia player shines off field
Bucs’ D’Cota Dixon left impact beyond football in Wisconsin.
D’Cota Dixon in the flesh is 1,300 miles away, but a picture of him graces Jackie Davenport’s office in Madison, Wis.
In a single frame, the image reveals the most important part of his college experience at the University of Wisconsin. It divulges nothing about the 51 starts he made for the Badgers in their secondary, the four bowl victories he experienced or his 177 career tackles.
Dixon was shown at his most impactful.
“D’Cota did everything,” Davenport said. “There wasn’t something that D’Cota didn’t do. In fact, I just filled out something for another [award] nomination for him, and it was like pages and pages and pages of stuff that D’Cota did.”
Davenport oversees Badgers Give Back, a community outreach program for athletes at Wisconsin. If they handed out game balls, Dixon — a former high school football player at New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County — would have a slew of them.
Dixon is an undrafted rookie free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will host the Miami Dolphins at 7:30 on Friday night at Raymond James Stadium. The preseason game will be broadcast in the Orlando area on WESH-Channel 2.
The safety was placed on injured reserve last week, but he could be activated later this season.
“People come from all different walks of life,” Dixon said after the Bucs and Dolphins held a joint practice this week. “You meet these children. I met kids that were in schools, [where] they had similar backgrounds that I had when I was younger, going through a little bit of a home
situation.
“For me, it was just important. It’s a way that I serve God, but it also is for my best interests.”
Dixon became involved with Badgers Give Back as a freshman, and Davenport could not recall him ever declining a request.
He took part in a prom night for those with Down Syndrome. (“That was so awesome.”) Dixon became a pen pal to children in need. (”That was amazing and beautiful.”) He visited children’s hospitals. (“Some of these children, they have a six-year lifespan, and they’re smiling. That’s perspective for you.”)
He used to invite children to hang out at Wisconsin’s athletic facilities. One time, an area zoo hosted an event for children with terminal illnesses, and Dixon spent time with each kid. Davenport said she received emails and letters from families expressing their gratitude.
Then there was a child who wrote Dixon, 24, about being bullied in school. He advised the youth to show kindness, that the bully likely felt insecure and different.
“His words of encouragement to that kid made me have that restored faith in humanity, that life was going to be OK someday,” Davenport said.
Dixon’s brother, Daryl, played football at the University of Florida from 1999-2003 and spent time with the Indianapolis Colts.
“D’Cota has more athletic ability than me, but I tell him the same thing,” Daryl said. “The way he got [to the NFL] was he played hard and he played smart. Smart covers a lot of things.”
D’Cota said that intelligence aside, nothing would be possible without his faith, which led him to Badgers Give Back in the first place. Dixon was honored with the 2018 Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, given to the Football Bowl Subdivision player for contributions on and off the field.
Dixon, a product of the fostercare system, intends to give the trophy to his stepmother.
“If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know where I would be,” he said. “The opportunities that I have experienced, had she not come and gotten me, I would have been in Miami. I don’t know what my life would have been like.
“That award is a symbol. It has nothing to do with anything good I’ve done, anything that I’ve been able to do. It has everything to do with the people who supported me and the people who loved me, the people who raised me.”