Sam Williams-Dixon is staying home to go to Ohio State
PICKERINGTON, Ohio (BVM) – Sam Williams-Dixon decided to stay in his home state for college. In April, the Columbus, Ohio native announced his commitment to Ohio State. The three-star running back from Pickerington North joins the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in the nation for the Class of 2024.
“I’m pretty pumped, you know, like a kid from Ohio, a kid from Columbus,” Williams-Dixon said. “All of that gives you a boost of confidence in yourself and what you do in life. You have that chip on your shoulder that you get to be a Buckeye.”
It doesn’t take a deep dive to see that the 6-foot, 194-pound running back is deserving of representing his hometown team. Last season as a junior for West Holmes, Williams-Dixon had 1,300 rushing yards as well as 500 receiving yards to go with 41 total touchdowns. The 41 touchdowns was a Knights’ school record, one that he originally broke the year before as a sophomore when he had 35 touchdowns.
Williams-Dixon’s sophomore season, along with his performance at the Best of the Midwest camp right before that season, put him on the map. Not only did he have 35 total touchdowns that year, he also rushed for 1,526 yards and had 997 receiving yards while West Holmes made it to its first ever OHSAA Division III Final Four.
West Holmes remains undefeated on the season with yet another 20+ point victory on Friday night. Leading the way for the Knights in a 63-39 win over OCC rival Ashland was jr RB Sam Williams-Dixon who ran for a career-high 316 yards on 33 carries and entered the endzone 5 times! pic.twitter.com/220FkhHvMm
— OH.Report (@oh_report) October 8, 2022
That’s when Ohio State first started looking into the running back that was tearing apart defenses in its backyard. Buckeyes running back coach Tony Alford spearheaded Williams-Dixon’s recruitment and, according to Williams-Dixon, that’s what made all the difference.
“The way that your position coach recruits you,” Williams-Dixon said about what made Ohio State stand out amongst all the other schools that recruited him.
It was during a running backs room meeting he sat in on that Williams-Dixon decided he was going to commit to the Buckeyes.
“The position meeting I was in and I liked the way the coach coached,” Williams-Dixon said. “I was like, ‘Yeah I want to be coached by that coach right there.’”
He now joins James Peoples and Jordan Lyle as Class of 2024 running back commits for Ohio State. It’s becoming a talented group and Williams-Dixon is ready to do his part.
But before he heads to Columbus to become a Buckeye, he has a senior season at Pickerington North that he is looking forward to. Since transferring, Williams-Dixon has been hard at work getting ready for the season and building a relationship with his teammates. The hard work and work ethic he is showing has been a constant in his football career.
“It came from the people around me like my family and my coaches telling me that working hard is where you’re going to be successful,” Williams-Dixon said.
Those same people fueled his confidence and belief in himself. Williams-Dixon was always going to play football. There was no other sport for him and he was always going to be a running back because that’s what his dad played, but it was his belief in himself that got him to this point. He knew that he was going to play college football because that’s what he believed and they supported that.
“They see that I can do this and I know that I can do this and that’s why I’ve been successful,” Williams-Dixon said.
He’s been very successful and based on the last few seasons of football, that success shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
