Kentucky Football caps solid commitment week with PRP’s Jakob Dixon

As Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops prepares for this season’s team to arrive for fall practice he and fellow coaches have been busy inking players for the Class of 2023 with Pleasure Ridge Park’s Jakob Dixon capping off four commitments this past week on Sunday.

While the 6-foot-4, 200-pounder from Louisville is relatively unknown in terms of high-profile star rankings Kentucky fans have to trust Stoops, Vince Marrow, and company to know talent when they see it. Plus finding it within the state of Kentucky continues to be a priority.

Dixon is UK’s fifth commitment that has chosen to stay home and play for the Wildcats from the state of Kentucky. Those Bluegrass players include Madison Central offensive tackle Malachi Wood, Fredrick Douglass athlete Ty Bryant, Franklin County athlete Kaden Moorman and Boyle County defensive end, Tommy Ziesmer.

Dixon, a tight end, will be called upon eventually at UK to be a hybrid player creating offensive weapons across the field and challenging defenses – think current Cat Izayah Cummings who came from Louisville Male High.

During Kentucky football camps this summer he has been clocked at 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash. which along with his vertical leap and skills, piqued enough positive vibes promoting UK to offer him a scholarship.

https://twitter.com/jakobwithnoc/status/1546196937795305473

Offers had come from Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, Tennessee State,  Dartmouth, and Eastern Illinois. Louisville, Purdue, and Vanderbilt had also expressed interest as well.

As On.3 reported earlier in his recruitment he knows what UK coaches want and what he needs to do.

"“They wanted me to work on playing different positions because they feel like I can be very versatile on the field; I can play tight end,” Dixon told KSR in June. “They want me to put on more weight because obviously in college you’re going to have to be a little more stronger than you are in high school.”"

As a junior at PRP, Dixon hauled in a team-high 33 passes for 663 yards that included nine touchdowns putting him fifth among the top receivers in Class 6A.

The three-sport athlete also runs track and is on the boy’s basketball team where he averaged 5.4 points per game during the 2021-22 season for the Panthers.

The “Big Dog” coach Marrow led the recruitment who couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play for the Wildcats. His former teammate Elijah Reed, a cornerback will is preparing to suit up for his first season with the Wildcats this fall.

Stoops and his coaches seem very focused on offensive recruiting thus far as eight of the 11 commitments come from the offensive side of the ball.

During the past week alone the Kentucky football coaching staff got commitments from a trio of players from Alabama including four-star 6-foot-2, 185-pound safety Avery Stuart from Montgomery, Ala.; 6-foot-4, 300-pound three-star offensive lineman Koby Keenum out of Florance, Ala; and three-star 6-foot-1, 217-pound running back Khalifa Keith hailing from Birmingham.

The three others heading to the Bluegrass include Austin Ramsey, a 6-foot-7, 330-pound lineman from Philadelphia; Tanner Lemaster a 6-foot-6, 230-pound tight end from Washington Court House, Ohio, and Shamar Porter a 6-foot-3, 180-pound wide receiver from Nashville, Tennessee.