Cornerback Dixon ready for tough assignments
NEW HAVEN — There were no need for blame to be assigned even after the 2018 Yale football team made some history than none of them will be referring to in years to come.
The Bulldogs had never given up more than 100 points in consecutive games in the program’s illustrious history until last November when Princeton dropped 59 on the Bulldogs followed by 45 more points being scored by Harvard. Yale, coming off a run to the Ivy League title, would lose both games to finish under .500 in Ivy League play and with a mediocre 55 record.
There were injuries to star players, heavy graduation losses and other factors to be considered, but Malcolm Dixon was having none of it. It mattered little that the natural cornerback was pressed into duty at safety to try to stop some of the bleeding or that he played such a key role during the magical 2017 campaign. Dixon found himself rather disturbed by what transpired and he planned on laying the blame squarely on his own shoulders.
“I feel like I let the team down personally because I wasn’t playing like Malcolm,” Dixon said. “I made sure I let the team know that and I was going to come back this year and make sure that never happens again.”
Dixon has certainly backed up his bold talk. Yale football coach Tony Reno, who coached the defensive backs from Yale from 200408 and at Harvard from 200911 before getting the No. 1 job with the Bulldogs, didn’t pull any punches when discussing the quality of play he has seen from Dixon during his senior season.
“Malcolm has played a lot of football for us,” Reno said after Saturday’s win at Brown when Dixon had two key pass breakups in the second half. “He started for us in 2017, he had to move him around last year and didn’t really get comfortable at either position because of the injuries we have but he has been as good as we have had at that position.”
That’s pretty high praise from a coach who worked with multiple AllIvy League defensive backs. At Tuesday’s Dick Galiette Media Luncheon, Reno expounded on those remarks.
“He is another guy who played for us and drew some tough coverages as a freshman,” Reno said. “He was a big part of the championship team as a sophomore. He is so competitive, incredibly competitive and he will do anything short of breaking a rule to keep them from catching the ball and sometimes receivers may say he does break the rules by holding.”
Dixon, a 6foot, 205pound native of Gardena, Calif., has been challenged in practice every day since his arrival in New Haven thanks to daily matchups with Yale senior receivers Reed Klubnik and JP Shohfi, who are both closing in on Yale’s record for career receiving yards.
“Going against them has made me hone in on my technique because if you make a mistake, no matter how little, they will probably catch the ball,” Dixon said. “Going against JP, I am basically running his route for him but he cuts underneath and catches it, that is 10 yards and a loss. It is very competitive and it has really helped me grow and build my own confidence.”
Dixon and the rest of Yale’s secondary will be tested by a Princeton team with three receivers (Jacob Birmelin, Dylan Classi and Andrew Griffin) who have combined for 103 catches for nearly 1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.
The last time Yale traveled to Princeton, the Tigers had nearly 300 passing yards and three touchdowns by halftime as the Bulldogs were down by 17 points before rallying for a 3531 victory. The Bulldogs would beat Harvard the following week to win the Ivy League title.
There weresome more defensive struggles in last year’s game at Princeton as the Tigers ran for 489 yards and seven touchdowns in the 5943 victory.
“I felt like that was a turning point,” Dixon said. “That was a good team, they won the Ivy League but at the same time, we knew we could play with them and we didn’t do it.
“In order to be successful, we have to do what Coach [Reno] says, have an attack mentality. I think the last two times playing Princeton, we didn’t have that attack mentality until it was too late.”
Attack mentality is something that Dixon prides himself on. He was a cornerback for his first three seasons at Sunny Hills High School before moving to safety as a senior.
Dixon admits that playing cornerback fits his personality the best as he is engaged in 1 on 1 individual showdowns.
It is a simple game,” Dixon said. “They are doing to try to run around me and I have to put my body in between the ball and that person and that is what I am going to do.”