EAST LANSING, Mich. — As a four-star recruit and one of the top cornerbacks in the 2025 cycle, Daryus Dixson received national attention for his standout play at California high school powerhouse Mater Dei.
Cornerbacks coach-turned interim head coach Terry Smith spent plenty of time recruiting the West Coast prospect, ultimately securing a decisive victory on the recruiting front and landing a rare Penn State pledge from The Golden State.
“That’s really my guy, man,” Dixson said of Smith after Saturday’s game. “He’s a great mentor. Knows a lot of ins and outs about the game, about my position as well. He was in my room.”
The early returns were positive, with coaches and teammates raving about his college-ready skillset after he enrolled early. Dixson turned that into playing time, appearing in each of the first five games of the season and burning his redshirt, one of few freshmen to do so.
On Saturday against Michigan State, he earned his first career start with veteran A.J. Harris — who was listed as questionable on the pregame availability report and warmed up — not playing. Dixson said he didn’t find out starting was a possibility until Thursday walk-throughs, the last practice before gameday.
“I would say it was a lot of development,” Dixson said. “I feel week to week, I’ve gotten better. I just feel like today was just to really show everything. I still got a lot to work on, but we’re still working every week.”
Dixson got off to a rough start, as he was out of position on the Spartans’ first offensive play of the game, which resulted in a 57-yard touchdown run.
But after that, he proved to be one of the Nittany Lions’ top performers, recording five tackles, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery, with his name frequently popping up in big moments. Adding on to that, he broke a long-standing Penn State tradition of not letting true freshmen speak to the media during the regular season.
“I would really just say it was just throughout the week, we prepared for it,” Dixson said. “I mentally was ready, physically when I got up there, I just felt good. Just played hard as I could and came out with the W today.”
He said his biggest area of growth has been getting more mental reps, because the game is “mostly mental.” That sentiment rings even truer under defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, whose players are expected to understand complex wrinkles and be able to read and react to the play.
Dixson’s mastery of the defense shines when he’s utilized on blitzes, which he’s gotten home on in each of the last two games to generate tackles for loss.
His first start was made sweeter by the scoreboard at Spartan Stadium, which showed a 28-10 Penn State win, snapping a six-game skid and giving Smith his first victory since taking over. Though the cornerback room is now led by assistants Jordan Lucas and Alan Zemaitis, Dixson said Smith still pops in to deliver pointers.
“We’ve been working all through every week, even when we lose, we still put everything forward, we try and go 1-0 every week,” Dixson said. “So just getting this win for Terry meant a lot, because this was his first win, so we’re gonna celebrate tonight.”
Dixson’s performance and postgame comments show a similar mentality to Smith, who’s promised high-effort performances from the team since stepping into his new role.
Like his position coach-turned-head coach, Dixson spoke about the importance of getting back to playing a physical brand of football.
“We’re just getting back to being up in people’s faces, being aggressive, more handsy, just coming in with all the pressure we bring in,showing we’re not one of them teams to back off,” Dixson said. “We’re going to show you that we got the players we have. We’re trusting in all our players.”
