Big Lead Sports Bar

2/27/2010

DICKERSON DOMINATES THE 40

He's 6'1", 226 pounds, and just ran a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. I think it's pretty safe to say that former Pitt Panther Dorin Dickerson is going to make a lot of money in the NFL very soon.

Dickerson's time was the best at his position, as was his vertical jump of 42 inches. He continued his impressive display with a 10-foot, five-inch broad jump and 24 reps of 225 pounds on the bench. It was enough to prompt the NFL Network's Mike Mayock to declare that Dickerson should not slip below the second round, although at least one draft site says Dickerson is more likely to go in the 3rd-4th round.

While it took Dickerson a while to find a position in college, he was one of Pitt's top performers in 2009, catching 49 passes for 529 yards to go along with a team-leading 10 touchdown receptions. He was one of Dave Wannstedt's most prized recruits, rated the nation's No. 8 "athlete", Pennsylvania's No. 6 prospect, and 35th overall recruit by Rivals.com coming out of nearby West Allegheny HS, where he played under Bob Palko, father of former Pitt QB Tyler Palko.

Dickerson is ranked among the top tight ends in the draft, although the consensus #1 seems to be Jermaine Gresham of Oklahoma. In some order, the other top TEs include Aaron Hernandez of Florida, Rob Gronkowski of Arizona, Jimmy Graham of Miami and Anthony McCoy of USC, although Dickerson is certainly going to throw a wrinkle into many a team's draft board after this performance.

Pitt's Dickerson is toast of the tight ends [PFT]

Dorin Dickerson bio
[PittsburghPanthers.com]

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6 comments:

dparker32 said...

Some of you may remember Rob Gronkowski as a few years back he transferred from his school in Buffalo to Woodland Hills and caught a lot of heat for it as it was thought to be a transfer for athletic purposes. Looks like it worked out for him.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

If only they had used DD at tight end his whole tenure at Pitt instead of switching him from a RB to WR to LB. I believe he was place kicking for a season somewhere in there also...

johnny said...

The Dickerson to LB experiment certainly was a bummer, but at the time, we were extremely thin at the position as Tommy Campbell and Clint Session weren't totally trusted by the staff.

The bummer about DD was that he did not Redshirt his first season, especially after the nagging injuries that he sustained at the Big 33.

However, had he been kept on the offensive side of the ball for four years, then yes, he would have been more statistically productive.

Best of luck to him and the other Panthers looking to carve a niche in the pros, especially Nate Byham, John Malecki, and Mick Williams, three of my favorite Panthers in recent memory.

JW said...

Johnny I agree but the decision not to redshirt was all DD's. Can't blame the kid though after being the man for four years in h.s. it's hard to accept staying on the sidelines for a full season.

NickDawg said...

this kids a freak of nature and will make some team happy

Anonymous said...

How about reporting on the kid from IUP at the combine. Third-best 40 time among cornerbacks and among the top 10 in the 60-yard shuttle. Not bad from a kid whose conference includes Slippery Rock, Cal U, Clarion, and Edinboro!

Cal U has two kids who will probably be drafted, and Edinboro's QB is ranked as high as the #19 QB in the draft. Give the area smaller budget schools some credit for their players!