Southern Miss wrapped up what most would call a successful weekend on the recruiting front late Monday when the football coaching staff secured a verbal commitment from Lackawanna (Pa.) Community College defensive end Derrick Dixon.
Dixon's pledge was the fifth in a 36-hour span after the Golden Eagles hosted 11 official visitors — six that were already committed to Southern Miss and five that were uncommitted.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Dixon put up 46 tackles and 7 1/2 sacks as a sophomore at Lackawanna last season. He will have three years to play two at Southern Miss.
"I feel great," said Dixon, who commits to Southern Miss over offers from Houston and Cincinnati. "They made me feel like family and are excited for me as much as I'm excited to be a Golden Eagle."
The Golden Eagles have already signed 11 players for this year's class and have verbal commitments from another 14 prospects.
National Signing Day is Feb. 4.
Johnson touts bowl experience
Emmanuel Johnson, who completed his senior season at Southern Miss last month, put together a standout performance at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl last week at Carson, Calif.
Selected as one of the National squad's team captains, the former Golden Eagle safety finished the game with three tackles, including one on Syracuse running back Prince-Tyson Gulley.
"I told him after the game, it wasn't anything personal," said Johnson, who became the third Golden Eagle in the game's four-year history to participate, joining Darius Barnes and Khyri Thornton. "But just that one play brought (me) so much exposure with social media. My whole Twitter account has blown up just from that one play."
Johnson added one tackle for loss for seven yards, helping lead his team to a 17-0 win.
"It was a great experience," he said. "I learned a lot during the week. They teach you a lot about how to be a pro. There was a lot of experience around, so a lot of the week was kind of preparing football players that are potentially going to be drafted."
Former NFL head coach Mike Martz served as Johnson's head coach, while former NFL safety Keith Lyle was the team's secondary coach for the game. Lyle led the NFL in interceptions in 1996 with the St. Louis Rams and spent nine seasons in the NFL.
Johnson said after he arrived in California in the week leading up to the game, it was difficult for him to rein in his enthusiasm.
"They had to tell me to slow down in that first practice," he said. "That first day they just let us go free, and I was kind of showing out a little bit. So they had to tell me to throttle it down. So, me being coachable, I did that."
With the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl out of the way, Johnson will now concentrate on graduating from Southern Miss in May and preparing for his pro day workout in March.
"It's going fast," he said. "We just got a new strength coach (Zac Woodfin), and he's willing to work with me. So I'm going to be real busy over the next few months between school and staying in shape and preparing for pro day. But I'm ready."
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