With a few strokes of a pen in a solidly packed auditorium at Pickerington North High School just outside Columbus, Sam Williams-Dixon completed his transition to Ohio State.
After signing his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday, the running back will start his collegiate career in less than a month, enrolling early to get a jump on his development.
“It feels amazing to be a Buckeye, to play for the best team in the land,” Williams-Dixon said.
With that, Williams-Dixon is harboring plenty of excitement both for the start of his college journey and to get to work competing in an Ohio State running back room that has seen plenty of attrition since the end of the regular season.
“I’m feeling great. I just can’t wait to be there,” Williams-Dixon said. “Can’t wait to play for them, can’t wait to play for Coach (Tony) Alford, Coach (Ryan) Day, produce what I can for the team.”
What Ohio State is getting in Williams-Dixon as a player is a tackle-breaker with an excellent ability to find seams in a defense, per Nate Hillerich, his coach at Pickerington North.
“His strength is one (thing that separates him), he’s a grown man,” Hillerich said. “The other thing is his vision and just his patience to be a running back. I think that’s something that is overlooked a lot of times. Sometimes you look at how fast a kid runs the 40, but it’s really the ability to see the holes and setup blocks. He does that better than any running back I’ve ever been around.”
Williams-Dixon transferred to Pickerington North from West Holmes High School in Millersburg, Ohio this offseason.
He played just five games for the Panthers due to Ohio’s transfer rules but collected 475 rushing yards at an average of 6.7 yards per carry with four touchdowns. Most impressive to Hillerich was Williams-Dixon’s season-opening performance at Elder, one of the state’s premier programs. The spark plug rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries during a 39-35 win for Pickerington North.
“The leadership coming in this offseason (and) his ability to get up before school and come to a program where there’s a lot of talent around him,” Hillerich said. “He’s not superior to everybody, he has to put the work in. Leadership skills, being at morning workouts and then playing in the big games.”
Williams-Dixon isn’t the most heralded of prospects, a three-star slotting in at 779th overall in the 247Sports composite rankings. He’s listed as the No. 60 athlete in those rankings; if he was listed as a running back, he’d be No. 62 in the composite at that position based on his overall ranking.
“Sometimes you look at how fast a kid runs the 40, but it’s really the ability to see the holes and setup blocks. he does that better than any running back I’ve ever been around.”– Nate Hillerich on what makes Sam Williams-Dixon special
The doubts outsiders have expressed about whether he can cut the mustard at Ohio State due to the number of stars next to his name is a chip on Williams-Dixon’s shoulder that he carries with him “everywhere.”
Doubts that current Ohio State starting running back TreVeyon Henderson drew entering this season following an injury-plagued sophomore year helped inspire Williams-Dixon, the prospect said.
“People doubt me. I’m not very highly recruited coming out of high school,” Williams-Dixon said. “(Henderson) was, but he was fighting adversity (this season) and I’m going to fight adversity as well and I’m going to prove people wrong.”
Speaking of Henderson, if the junior makes his way to the NFL after this season, the Buckeyes will be down to upcoming junior Dallan Hayden, fellow incoming freshman James Peoples and Williams-Dixon at the position for 2024. Miyan Williams declared for the 2024 NFL draft while Chip Trayanum and Evan Pryor have both already found new destinations via the transfer portal in Kentucky and Cincinnati.
“Long story short, I’ve got to be ready,” Williams-Dixon said. “That’s what Coach Alford has been telling me. We’ve got to get me ready, got to get me started and that’s what I’m going to do coming into the spring.”
Williams-Dixon added that he has been and will continue working on his pass blocking, which he said Alford is big on. While he already has a well-proven ability to catch balls out of the backfield, quarterback protection is a significant area where Williams-Dixon can become a more complete running back.
The first semester will also mean Williams-Dixon’s first winter workouts with Ohio State assistant athletic director for football sports performance Mickey Marotti.
“We’ll see,” Williams-Dixon said when asked if he’s ready for OSU’s strength and conditioning program. “You’ve got to come in there ready to work.”
Williams-Dixon will need to put in plenty of work if he’s to see the field early as a Buckeye.
“He’s been able to go and work out with them at the facility a couple of times a week and I think he’s realized, one, how far away he is from being ready, but also how close he is (to playing),” Hillerich said. “Being able to graduate early, (he understands) how he can have an impact quickly, and at the running back position at Ohio State, how injured (players can get) – you can quickly become the fourth-string guy getting carries.”
