Michigan Football: 3 Takeaways on commitment of 4-star Christian Dixon

Michigan football added a commitment from four-star wide receiver Christian Dixon on Thursday and here are three takeaways.

If you are a fan of the Wolverines, you’ve got to be feeling good right about now. Michigan football added a commitment from four-star wideout Christian Dixon on Thursday morning, less than a day after Juwan Howard and the hoops program landed its first 2021 recruit.

Dixon has been expected to commit to Michigan football for some time. The Wolverines owned all of his projections from 247 sports, which ranks Dixon as a three-star prospect and the No. 96 wideout in the 2021 class.

That ranking seems low, especially because 247 sports had him as a four star and the No. 44 wide receiver in 2021 just about a week ago. Yet, both Rivals and ESPN rank Dixon in the top 200 and at 6-foot-2, he’s another big wideout to play on the outside for Josh Gattis.

In terms of the 247 composite rankings, Dixon still comes in as a four-star recruit. He’s ranked 210th among all players and 38th among receivers. He’s not a blazer, per say, but like Markus Allen, the other receiver committed in 2021, he has tremendous ball skills, runs great routes and is just really natural catching the ball.

Some guys are great athletes, but they fight catching the football. That’s not an issue with Dixon. He’s smooth and his addition gives U-M 10 four-star commitments, six on offense along with J.J. McCarthy, Giovanni El-Hadi, Greg Cripen, Raheem Anderson and Louis Hansen.

For more on his addition to the 2021 class, here are three takeaways.

Dixon is a perfect fit

When you go down Dixon’s offer list, it’s pretty impressive and includes LSU, USC, Notre Dame, Florida State, Miami, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Oregon among others. Of course, some of those programs, namely LSU and USC, went in other directions and that’s part of what allowed Michigan to pounce, but still, without him visiting, landing a commitment was a job well done.

The Wolverines also have a big need and Dixon fits it perfectly. While they aren’t bare at wide receiver or anything, if you look at the 2020 and 2021 classes, Michigan has landed guys like Giles Jackson, Mike Sainristil, A.J. Henning, Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson.

Most of those guys are smaller, slot-type wide receivers. Ronnie Bell will likely be back in 2021 too, but he’s another that excels in the slot, so Michigan football came into this cycle needing bigger receivers and so far, they landed a pair at 6-foot-2. Here’s what Dixon told Rivals.

"“They don’t really have big receivers. Coach (Josh) Gattis knows what it takes to put big receivers in the league and be successful at that level,” he said. “That’s a big part in what I want. It’s just an overall good feel at Michigan.”"

Dixon is being underrated

I totally get that rankings fluctuate, but Dixon’s drop in the 247 rankings, which really wasn’t caused by anything, thanks to a lack of evaluation periods, didn’t make much sense.

Still, he’s a high-end three-star in their rankings, which means he’s expected to be a solid contributor down the road. But honestly, when I look at him, I see someone who compares favorably to Donovan Peoples-Jones.

Peoples-Jones was a solid deep threat and Dixon is just smooth. He may run 4.6 but so did Greg Jennings and he never had a problem scoring plus 50-yard touchdowns at Western Michigan or for the Green Bay Packers.

I’m not comparing the two, but he had a way of running all his routes at the same speed and Dixon has that same ability. Speed does matter but it’s also how you use it. I’d say he’s a lesser athlete than DPJ, and isn’t quite as big, but has better hands and won’t fight the ball.

Also, his future quarterback seems excited about him joining the class. Here’s what McCarthy told Brice Marich of 247 sports about Dixon committing: “Made my day! Louis Hansen, Markus Allen and Christian Dixon? Couldn’t be more jacked for a receiving core!”

Will Michigan add another receiver?

With Dixon, Michigan football now has 19 commitments. The class is still ranked sixth in the 247 sports rankings for 2021 and with around seven spots left, U-M is in a solid position.

With Dixon and Allen, the Wolverines have filled their need for receivers who can play on the outside, but they are still pushing for others such as Xavier Worthy, who recently delayed his commitment after crystal ball picks started trending for Oregon or Jayden Thomas, who recently told Wolverine Digest he wants to take visits and will make a decision this fall.

Worthy is a top-100 receiver via 247 and 175th in the 247 composite. Him delaying his decision could allow Michigan to get him in for a visit, but a number of SEC schools are also after him, so it’s hard to say where he will end up. Oregon is still very much in the mix and owns all of his crystal ball picks.

As far as Thomas, Michigan is making contact with him and has told him he could play baseball and football. That helped land Eamonn Dennis in 2020 and maybe it will work again.

As far as numbers, I don’t see U-M needing four receivers. Three seems more reasonable but it depends how things go at other spots. If Michigan takes one running back and say five offensive lineman, it could take four receivers. Or if it added just one more D-lineman and O-lineman.

With Dixon’s pledge, spots are running out and that should allow Michigan to really hammer away at its top targets leading up to the early signing period.