Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 27, 1994 TAG: 9404270041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"That's what I told my parents," said Dixon, who was at his family's vacation home in Nags Head, N.C. "They understood my frustration. I felt I had played better [in college] than probably 90 percent of the people who got drafted and it didn't matter.
"Once it got past the fifth round, I quit watching. I knew I wasn't going to get drafted."
Dixon, an All-America guard at Virginia, started hearing from teams as early as the sixth round and within hours had reached agreement as a free agent with Philadelphia, with whose staff he had become familiar at the Senior Bowl.
"I knew they didn't have many spots open," said Dixon, aware that the Eagles had taken two offensive linemen in the first three rounds. "At that point, I wanted to go where it was tough because I wanted to prove that everybody had made a mistake."
Although he had run poorly at the National Scouting Combine, Dixon felt he had improved his stock in individual workouts and hoped to be selected as early as the third round.
"Honestly, I think a lot of teams felt I was good enough to be drafted by the third round," Dixon said. "They just didn't think I was good enough for them to draft me. They were saying, `Yeah, somebody's going to take him, but it won't be us.' "
Dixon said he received the most predraft attention from Cincinnati and Tampa Bay - two of the teams, with the New York Jets - that subsequently expressed the most interest in him as a free agent.
"The reality of the situation is that I'm probably not going to make it," he said. "I'll give it a chance so I can say, `I definitely didn't make it,' before I close this chapter of my life.
"Maybe I'm not the prototype and maybe I don't have the frame to play in the NFL. It's a different game and maybe it's not suited for me. To be an offensive lineman in the NFL these days, you have to be 6 feet 5, 6-6 and 300 pounds and I'm not that."
At slightly more than 6-3 and 290 pounds, Dixon had little trouble doing the job in college, however.
"You can't be but so optimistic, because I think the writing is on the wall," Dixon said, "but I'm not going up there planning on getting cut. If I get there and find I can compete, then maybe I'll change my attitude."
\ RECEIVING HELP: Virginia players and coaches are gushing about the potential of redshirt freshman Derick Byrd, a former quarterback who had been at wide receiver for only two days before his spring practice was ended by a injury.
An unusual number of walk-ons have contributed at receiver for the Cavaliers, including 1993 receiving leader Patrick Jeffers. The latest crop includes Tommy Vaughan, a freshman from Nelson County who had 17 receptions for 212 yards and four touchdowns in three spring scrimmages.
The Cavaliers are equally high on another non-scholarship freshman, Bryan Owen, who comes from the same program at Cedar Cliff High School in Camp Hill, Pa., that produced former walk-on Tim Finkelston.
\ TRIVIA QUESTION: Bryant Stith recently became the seventh former UVa player to score more than 1,000 points in the National Basketball Association. Name the first six.
\ STAFF STUFF: As of Monday, Virginia had not contacted Wake Forest men's basketball assistant Ricky Stokes, a former Cavaliers player who is said to have some interest in one of the two full-time vacancies on coach Jeff Jones' staff.
Tom Perrin, UVa's restricted-earnings coach, will move up to one of the positions, with Richmond assistant and UVa graduate Anthony Solomon a leading contender for the other. Not interested is alumnus Marc Iavaroni, who has decided to get out of coaching and return to school after one year at Bowling Green.
\ ACC TRACK: UVa freshman Katie Ollendick from Blacksburg finished third in the heptathlon at the ACC outdoor track and field meet and also scored points for the Cavaliers with a seventh-place finish in the high jump.
Also scoring for Virginia were senior Pam Lemons from Floyd, fifth in the 100 and 200 meters; freshman Ronde Barber from Roanoke, fourth in the 110 hurdles; freshman Tiki Barber from Roanoke, seventh in the long jump; and junior Donald Scott from Bath County, eighth in the triple jump.
\ TRIVIA ANSWER: Three-time collegiate player of the year Ralph Sampson had 7,097 points in his NBA career and is followed by fellow UVa alumni Wally Walker (3,968), Olden Polynice (3,596), Iavaroni (2,328), Gus Gerard (1,607), Jeff Lamp (1,495) and Stith (1,370).
Stith played in all 82 games after an injury-plagued rookie season for the Denver Nuggets and joined Sampson as the only former UVa players to score 1,000 points in a single NBA season. Polynice had his best season with averages of 11.6 points and 11.9 rebounds, fifth in the NBA, for Detroit and Sacramento.
by CNB