The Clemson Insider recently spoke with a newly-offered tight end, who made his first trip to Clemson for the program’s official visit weekend.
Clemson has quickly and not so quietly made quite the splash in Archbishop Wood High School (Warminster, Pa.) three-star tight end Markus Dixon’s recruitment. Talking with TCI in a phone interview Wednesday, Dixon detailed his official visit to Tiger Town this past weekend and gave the latest on his recruitment, which could soon be nearing a conclusion.
“It was great,” Dixon said regarding his official visit experience. “I think Clemson made a very huge impact in my recruitment.”
What stood out to Dixon during his first-ever visit to Clemson, is how the program is very family-oriented. He feels like that also speaks for what the team values off the field, including academics.
Dixon reported an offer from the school he was officially visiting on Friday, June 3.
“It was a heavy offer,” he said. “It’s not just any Power Five school offering me. This is a team that’s almost consistently top-four every year. I think that this is a great program and them offering just really shows my skills and abilities and how they’d love to use me.”
Dixon thinks that he will be making his college decision next week. He doesn’t have any more official visits lined up at the moment and said that his Clemson one was the only one he planned on taking as of now.
“They’re definitely heavy on my list,” Dixon said when asked where the Tigers currently stand in his recruitment.
Among 31 official visitors, Dixon and First Baptist Academy (Naples, Fla.) four-star Olsen Patt Henry were the only two tight ends on campus this past weekend. Henry announced his verbal commitment to Clemson on Tuesday.
Dixon said that Clemson’s coaching staff did talk about him and Henry being the only tight ends that they’re heavily interested in.
“Hanging with him throughout the whole weekend, he was just a great person to be around,” Dixon said of Henry. “We haven’t even played together, so I think that just says a lot about his character.”
The other tight end that Dixon got to spend time around during his official visit was Sage Ennis, who served as his player host for the weekend.
“He’s a funny guy with a wholesome spirit,” Dixon said of the Clemson redshirt sophomore tight end. “I can definitely see myself just learning the game from him. Just being around him was pretty cool.”
Between the coaching staff, tight ends coach Kyle Richardson, Ennis and everything the program has to offer and more, Clemson certainly made a huge impression on Dixon and his family. He was accompanied by his mother and two siblings, who also thoroughly enjoyed their first stay in South Carolina.
When it comes time for Dixon to make his eventual college decision, he told us that he’s looking for a program that will take care of him on and off the field, especially coaching staff-wise. He’s also looking for a program that he feels will help develop him and his game as a whole all-around tight end.
While it won’t be an ultimate deciding factor in his decision, Dixon will certainly look at the quarterback position. This past weekend, he was able to spend a lot of time with the leader of Clemson’s 2023 class in Briarwood Christian (Birmingham, Ala.) five-star quarterback commit, Christopher Vizzina.
“I was excited about being around CV,” Dixon said. “I was around CV a lot this weekend. He’s actually a great person. I’m looking forward to building a real tight chemistry between us if that were to happen. He’s just a great quarterback and I’m real excited for what the future holds for him.
That future could be together, but that’s up to Dixon, who very well could be making his college decision come next week.
Dixon (6-5, 230) is the nation’s No. 24 tight end in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports Composite.
— Photo for this article courtesy of @markusd1xon on Instagram.
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