This time last year, Tony Elliott compared Lyn-J Dixon to former Clemson running back Andre Ellington.
It was a good comparison because Dixon definitely looked Ellington while wearing the same No. 23 jersey as he ran away from defenders.
“He is explosive, especially when he gets to the edge,” Elliott said.
Explosive is a great way to describe Dixon’s freshman season at Clemson. He had four runs of 65 yards or longer. Three of those went for touchdowns.
The Butler, Ga., native also had a 41-yard completion from Chase Brice as well as a 38-yard run for a touchdown in 2018.
“He really showed what he could do when he got his opportunities,” Elliott said. “He still has some work to do, but he got better as the season went along and really showed us, he can be a productive player.”
The areas where Elliott thinks Dixon can get better is trusting his blockers, show a little more patience and stay within the scheme of the play. A lot of times last year he would freelance, especially in the early part of the season.
However, some of the freelancing Elliott and the coaching staff can live with because that is what makes him so explosive.
When Dixon rushed for 116 yards on just four carries against Louisville in the Tigers’ 61-point victory, his four carries were the fewest by a Clemson player to reach 100 yards in school history. He averaged 29 yards per carry that afternoon, including a 55-yard touchdown.
He also had a 38-yard run against the Cardinals.
Dixon ran for a career high 163 yards on 10 carries at Wake Forest, while rushing for touchdowns of 65 and 52 yards. He joined Travis Etienne and Adam Choice as part of trio that became the first group of three players in history to each rush for at least 125 yards in the same game.
Obviously, at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, Elliott wants to see Dixon get bigger and stronger, which he knows will come. He also wants to see the rising sophomore start to show his progression in the passing game, especially when it comes to pass protection.
Dixon, who hits a hole with the same explosion Ellington used to, finished last year with 547 yards, which ranked third on the team while leading the squad with 8.8 yards per carry. In all, he played in 13 of the Tigers’ 15 games and had 62 total carries.
Dixon will enter the spring as Clemson’s third-team running back behind Etienne and senior Tavien Feaster.
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