UW HUSKIES

Report: Former UW Huskies starter follows Steve Belichick to UNC

Jan 18, 2025, 3:39 PM | Updated: 3:46 pm

Former UW Huskies starting cornerback Thaddeus Dixon is transferring to North Carolina, according to a social media post Saturday afternoon from On3 reporter Hayes Fawcett.

One minute after Fawcett’s post, Dixon posted a photo on social media with a caption that read, “Thank you UW. I love y’all forever.”

Caple: The unsung heroes of the 2024 UW Huskies

Dixon is the fourth Huskies player to follow 2024 UW defensive coordinator Steve Belichick to North Carolina. The others are standout freshman linebacker Khmori House, freshman safety Peyton Waters and freshman wide receiver Jason Robinson Jr.  According to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, Belichick is expected to be the defensive coordinator at UNC under his father, Bill Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach who took the head job with the Tar Heels last month.

Dixon is ranked by On3 as the No. 9 overall player in the transfer portal and the No. 2 cornerback. As a senior this past season, he started all 12 regular-season games for the Huskies and finished with an interception, 11 pass breakups and a forced fumble. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed just 24 receptions on 51 targets for a completion rate of 47.1% – which was tied for the 32nd-best rate out of 223 cornerbacks who had at least 300 coverage snaps.

Dixon, a Los Angeles native, played two seasons at Long Beach City College in Southern California before transferring to UW and playing the past two seasons for the Huskies. He totaled two interceptions, 18 pass breakups and a forced fumble in 27 games at UW.

Dixon’s college career was set to be over after the 2024 season, but he and numerous other former junior-college athletes were granted an extra year of eligibility by a blanket waiver from the NCAA on Dec. 23. The NCAA’s waiver was in response to a federal court injunction in favor of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who filed a lawsuit over the NCAA’s eligibility rules for former junior-college athletes.

Dixon’s transfer comes after UW head coach Jedd Fisch reportedly landed a commitment earlier this month from Arizona transfer cornerback Tacario Davis, who was the top-ranked corner in the transfer portal. That would have made for a talented but crowded UW cornerback room headlined by Davis, Dixon and returning starter Ephesians Prysock. Before transferring to UW, Prysock played alongside Davis at Arizona in 2023, back when Fisch was the Wildcats’ head coach.

More on UW Huskies football

• Caple: Which transfers will help UW Huskies most in 2025?
• Reports: UW Huskies to hire former O’Dea star as safeties coach
• Caple: Five 2023 UW Huskies recruits to watch this spring
• Caple: Did CFP teams build O-lines how Huskies want to build theirs?
• How UW Huskies, WSU Cougars fared in rookie NFL seasons

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