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SammyGreene
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Haven't seen anything on this yet and figure better get it posted with some interesting arrivals.

Excellent articles in today's paper on Dixon whose story is remarkable. Sounds like he has the best chance of being a late season roster addition which is not exactly an endorsement for Mitchell returning anytime soon. Leon's arrival has Schmidt a little miffed and Rodgers has been living in his NFL star older brother's shadow his entire career. Vaughn was teammates at Oregon with Tuinei.
As part of the CFL’s annual practice roster expansion the Lions added five new bodies this morning. Each season, clubs are permitted to expand their existing practice roster to 15 players with many of those players coming directly from NFL camps.

The Lions added quarterback Jordan Rodgers, receivers Rahsaan Vaughn and Joe Adams as well as defensive tackle Marcus Dixon and punter Richie Leone.

“We’ve had our eye on these guys for some time,” says Neil McEvoy, the club’s director of football operations. “The timing works better now than right after their camps break because a lot of these guys want to wait and see what happens through the first few weeks of the NFL season. Whether it’s injuries or just a personnel decision, the guys we have coming in are literally the final cuts on NFL clubs and trust me, they make mistakes.”

Rodgers joins the Leos after a couple of NFL stops in Jacksonville and Tampa Bay. The brother of Aaron Rodgers also had a brief tryout with the Miami Dolphins. He’ll see some familiar faces in the Lions locker room as fellow practice roster players Rob Lohr and Steven Clarke were teammates with Rodgers at Vanderbilt. The California native enjoyed a brief but remarkable career with the Commodores following his transfer from Butte Community College, finishing his two years of active duty with 299 completions and 4,063 passing yards with 24 majors.

Receivers Adams and Vaughn also come north to the Leos after NFL camps this fall. Adams was a fourth-round pick of the Carolina Panthers who saw the field a few times as a returner in the regular season before being released. He also spent time with the Edmonton Eskimos before getting injured and subsequently released back in June. The former standout at Arkansas bounced back however and was invited to Houston Texans training camp this past August.

Vaughn was a two-year contributor at Oregon in 2011 and 2012 after transferring to the NCAA powerhouse from a California junior college. The Oakland native is a speedster who caught the eye of the New York Jets back in 2013. He stuck around on the Jets’ practice roster following camp last year but was ultimately released when the club ran into injuries at other positions. Vaughn was most recently in camp with the Oakland Raiders.

Dixon has the most accomplished resume of the new additions after spending the past five or so seasons with a number of NFL clubs. The Hampton University grad who was a conference all-star in 2006 and 2007 toiled on the practice roster of the Dallas Cowboys for a couple years before signing with the New York Jets in 2010 and appearing in 22 games over the next three years. The defensive tackle went to camp with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013 as well as the Tennessee Titans this past August.

Leone was highly-decorated punter at the University of Houston where he earned a first-team Conference USA selection in 2012 and a second-team nod in 2013. The Georgia native was a three-time Ray Guy Award semi-finalist as college football’s top punter.

All five newcomers will be on the field Monday morning as the Lions come off their final bye-week of the season and prepare to travel to Winnipeg to take on the ‘Bombers this Saturday.
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SammyGreene
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Buono crosses paths with massive Dixon; NFL-sized lineman among five recruits to join playoff-hungry squad
Vancouver Sun
Wed Oct 22 2014
Mike Beamish


Professional football players live in a world of uncertainty and blurred lines, knowing they are ruled at the whim of a general manager whose stated desire is to make his team better and younger. Cheaper goes without saying.

When the B.C. Lions added 22-year-old import punterplacekicker Richie Leone to their expanded practice roster this week, the Canadian Football League club's resident punter and kickoff specialist, Ricky Schmitt, admitted he was a tad unnerved.

"I was very surprised. I have no idea what the whole move is about," Schmitt said after practice Tuesday. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"We're looking for a guy next year who can do all three (punt, place kick and kick off)," Lions GM Wally Buono said. "If a guy is like (Toronto Argonauts punter-kicker Swayze) Waters or (the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Justin) Medlock, we're interested. But they've got to be a cut above. From what I saw of (Leone) today and yesterday, it's a beginning."

Leone, who was elected captain at the University of Houston in his senior year, is the youngest of five new recruits to join the Lions' practice roster, which is allowed to expand from 10 to 15 players over the next three weeks.

The most experienced newcomer is 30-year-old defensive lineman Marcus Dixon. At six-foot-four and carrying a well distributed 310 pounds, Dixon looks every inch like an NFL player. That's because he was one, as recently as Aug. 28, when he played for the Tennessee Titans in a pre-season game against the Minnesota Vikings.

"I had two sacks in that game," said Dixon, who has spent time with four NFL teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, with whom he signed a three-year, $1.1 million US deal as an undrafted free agent in 2008.

Although the Lions have Dixon in camp just for a looksee, Buono's quick appreciation of the player's size and talent should raise the anxiety level of any established starter.

Asked if bringing in a 30-yearold recruit goes against his MO of younger and better, Buono said Dixon is "younger than Khreem (Smith, who is 35). He's younger than Eric Taylor (33 in December). He looks good to me. I don't care how old he is. We're trying to get better this year, or find guys who can help us get better next year."

As for the 29-year-old Khalif Mitchell, he is beginning to appreciate how fleeting stardom in the CFL can be. An all-CFL defensive tackle in 2013 with the Argonauts and in 2011 with the Lions, Mitchell hasn't dressed for the past two games for ratio reasons and is seeing work in practice this week on the scout team. He is declining to be interviewed.

Dixon, for his part, seems undaunted by the prospect of auditioning for a CFL team, just weeks after failing to sustain his dream of an NFL career. That's because no football disappointment can ever compare with what he has already endured.

As an 18-year-old high school senior in Georgia, he was charged and convicted of statutory rape and aggravated child molestation of a 16-yearold classmate, despite a jury's finding that the relationship was consensual. Several members of the jury were reportedly stunned by the severity of the sentence - imprisonment for what amounted to a case of teenage sex.

Ultimately, after serving 15 months, Dixon won a landmark appeal in the racially charged case. The Georgia Supreme Court freed him, following public protests and national attention on Bryant Gumbel's Real Sports and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

"I've had so much support," said Dixon, who continues to live in Rome, Ga., his hometown. "People got out of their beds to support me. I can't thank them enough. It was so amazing. They were there for me. I try to live every day as a good person, to pay them back."

After losing a scholarship to Vanderbilt because of the conviction, Dixon later enrolled at Hampton University, where he was twice named an all-conference player before going on to the NFL.

His desire to wring every second he can out of his football career brought him to the Lions, although Dixon admits he had to pause before embarking on a CFL adventure. "I had to think twice, a little bit," he said. "There's always a chance to get back in the NFL. But, I said to myself, I don't want to sit around. And I love the game so much. I'm on practice squad here, but I'm going to be the best practice squad player I can be. It's a kid's game that we play. And you still get paid to play a kid's game. You can't beat that."

The NFL may be done with him, but Dixon wants the Lions to know he isn't done with football.

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SammyGreene
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Dixon gets second chance with Lions; Practice Roster: Oprah Winfrey came to his side after he was wrongly convicted of child molestation
The Province
Wed Oct 22 2014
Lowell Ullrich

The money being made on the practice roster of the B.C. Lions by Marcus Dixon is not a lot, but it is assuredly still more than the pennies he was pulling down when freedom was no longer assured during the last job he had before college.

The living quarters at his two-star hotel in Surrey these days is also not lavish, but it is still better the U.S. prison where he did menial tasks for money during the 15 months he spent after he was initially found guilty of statutory rape and child molestation.

Dixon spent parts of six seasons in the NFL and was only asked occasionally about the biggest event in his life. But in landing on a practice roster in the CFL, a player who received the ultimate second chance is hoping to find a home in a league that is all about second chances.

He's also likely the only CFL player who is here partly because of what was once done for him by Oprah Winfrey.

"This is a blessing," the 30-year-old Dixon said, his eyes opening wide enough to make it seem obvious he wasn't speaking for effect.

"It's practice squad. But I'm on a team. The camaraderie, the brotherhood; I get to still be part of that." In another time and place, Dixon's brotherhood at the state prison not far from his home in small-town Rome, Ga., was considerably different, making his journey to the Lions in search of a defensive tackle spot all the more remarkable.

As an 18-year-old African-American with a 3.96 high school grade point average and a scholarship offer to Vanderbilt awaiting, Dixon was arrested in 2003 for allegedly raping a white 15-year-old virgin in a classroom trailer.

Jurors in his trial learned he had once been suspended in high school for inappropriate behaviour.

But while Dixon's jury acquitted him on four more serious charges, ruling the sex was consensual, he was found guilty of aggravated felony child molestation, which carried a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years with no parole, and statutory rape, a misdemeanour. Dixon was destined to remain behind bars until his case began to draw attention from Oprah and HBO's Bryant Gumbel when jurors said they would not have pressed for a guilty verdict if they were aware in advance of the penalty for child molestation, not permissible under state law.

Eventually, Dixon had candlelight rallies in 2004 organized on his behalf outside the Georgia Supreme Court as racial tensions in the South were rekindled before his felony charge was overturned and he was released for time served on the misdemeanour. A movie studio, Paramount, sought rights to his story. It is for those people in the streets who supported him, Dixon said, why he continues to pursue a football career even though he has been discarded by four NFL teams once he went undrafted after eventually attending Hampton University.

It's also why he still lives in Rome and will discuss his life, in support of others who feel they may have been tried unjustly.

"I didn't do anything wrong; why should I leave home?" he asks. "If you lived in Rome, we'd probably be cousins.

"If I can reach one person talking about what happened, that's fine. I look at everything like a ministry. When I'm on this field, this is a platform where if I can use it in a positive way for one person, I've done my job. You're not going to reach everybody but if you can reach one you've done your job in society and in life."

Dixon has no anger toward his accuser, telling the New York Daily News in a 2011 interview he felt the motivation behind the charges was the girl's father.

Dixon definitely has the respect of his current peer group.

"He could be bitter, but he turned it around, went to college and got a degree," said fellow Lions tackle Eric Taylor of Winchester, Tenn., a town of 8,000 that makes Rome look like New York by comparison in population. "Remarkable is the word you'd use about him."

Like all of the practice roster newcomers who arrived this week, Dixon is on a team that is proud of its community endeavours relative to domestic violence issues and was subject to a vetting process.

Part of that process is taking a second look at a situation that initially had a chance to destroy a life.

"First impressions mean a lot," said coach Mike Benevides, who has eventual roster decisions at the position that not only involve Dixon but Rob Lohr, 24, and 29-year-old Khalif Mitchell, who has become marginalized with the Lions these days starting non-import Jabar Westerman. "Coming through the door, he shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye and on day one, hour one he was taking notes. I've known him 30 hours. He left a heck of a first impression."

Dixon has no quarrel with staying at the Days Inn in Surrey even though it wasn't anything like his life with the Dallas Cowboys for two seasons in 2008, or for three years with the New York Jets, where he once couldn't rent an apartment because of his past.

He is still playing a game that was almost taken away from him.

Any day looks good. "I didn't want to sit around," the well-spoken Dixon said when asked why he wanted to keep going.

"I try be a good person every day so as to pay the people who supported me back. There was a lot of love, the way that we should be as human beings in the first place.

"If it's practice squad, I'll be the best practice-squad player I can be. It's still a kids game."

A mistake he made as a relative kid wasn't the end of him.

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Rammer
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Sounds like a real character guy, you have to appreciate his outlook on life. I am not sure that I would be so open given his situation, and nowhere near as forgiving.
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I'm ashamed to admit this, but I don't understand why Mitchell "has become marginalized with the Lions these days." Is it less-than-stellar play or does it involve some of the asinine behavior that got him in trouble earlier?
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South Pender wrote:I'm ashamed to admit this, but I don't understand why Mitchell "has become marginalized with the Lions these days." Is it less-than-stellar play or does it involve some of the asinine behavior that got him in trouble earlier?
Mitchell hasn't been impressive this year. He has repeatedly made technical mistakes by turning his body or leaving his gap, and he just hasn't shown the the strength and power that earned him the starting job in the first place. When the Lions needed to find an extra Canadian starter to offset changes to he ratio on offence, subbing Westerman for Mitchell seemed to be the best route. Westerman has been more productive. He has 14 tackles and 2 sacks on the season. Mitchell has 7 tackles and 1 sack.
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Good article on Dixon. Beginning to like this guy already
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Rammer wrote:Sounds like a real character guy, you have to appreciate his outlook on life. I am not sure that I would be so open given his situation, and nowhere near as forgiving.
I don't want to rain on a guy who is clearly trying to put his life back together, but clearly a case of very bad judgement especially in a state like Georgia. A guy with a 3.96 GPA should have been smart enough to know that even in this day and age, you shouldn't be messing around with a 15 year old and even more so when that 15 year old is white and you are in a state where the racial divide is still very much alive and well. Georgia ranks up there among the top 5 most racist states in the US. Hope this is a chance for him to get some career back.
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Sir Purrcival wrote:
Rammer wrote:Sounds like a real character guy, you have to appreciate his outlook on life. I am not sure that I would be so open given his situation, and nowhere near as forgiving.
A guy with a 3.96 GPA should have been smart enough to know that even in this day and age, you shouldn't be messing around with a 15 year old and even more so when that 15 year old is white and you are in a state where the racial divide is still very much alive and well.
Always a mistake to think that academic ability (and traditional general intelligence) implies good judgement. The two are mildly correlated, but they are clearly (and empirically) distinct! I do agree with you that he displayed deplorable judgement, something often seen in 18-year-olds.
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Seems to be a trend in the CFL of going with an International to do the punting, placekicking and kickoffs.
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people should remember that most 18 yr old guys don't think of many 15 yr old girls as being out of bounds or a bad thing to be doing. Yes he did wrong, but a very understandable wrong IMO.
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Glad to see more guys like Dixon on the scene. The BC Lions were fun to watch when we had guys like Brent J & Wake are key components of that D-line. Anybody whose willing/able to make other teams O-linesQbs suffer the way our Lions O-line/Qbs have suffered, is good in my books....

Only seen one interview of Rodgers so far. Like what Benevides had to say about Rodgers "he's confident".
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I am good with these signings. I was hoping some of these guys could have been signed earlier given this should be a "pull out all the stops" Grey Cup hosting season, but I guess they wanted to go by the book and wait for the expanded roster provision.

We needed another 3 technique guy on the line. Jabar has been an improvement on Khalif who's been strangely passive this season, but I have still not been completely happy with the pass rush. Incidentally, I sat next to one of the players on a recent flight back to YVR. He's very impressed with Rob Lohr; called him "a beast."

We've never replaced Korey Williams' breakaway speed so I am interested to see what the two new receivers can offer, probably for next season now. As for Leone, I don't know why Schmitt was nonplussed by the signing. His kick-offs have been great this season and his punting average (44.4) an improvement over McCallum, but it's often "like a box of chocolates." You just never know what you're going to get! Some of his punts he nails - high, tight spirals. A few are of the wounded duck variety - end over end and bounce forward for decent yardage. And then he struggles to positioning the ball at times when punting on the opponents' side of mid-field. Bottom line, they are looking to save cap space next year by having one guy do all 3 facets of kicking.


DH :cool:
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Although playing DE in college and seen this way at the NFL combine, Dixon would seem to be a better fit for the Lions on the inside--probably 3-tech as David mentioned--than at end. Here are a couple of NFL scouting reports on him:

http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/mar ... on?id=1680

http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/ds ... &genpos=DE

The scout who wrote the first report noted an absence of good technique, but maybe this has improved since that report was written.

Vaughn and Adams both came out of top-tier college programs and both appear to have excellent speed (4.55 in the 40). Here are scouting reports on each:

http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/ds ... &genpos=WR

http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/ds ... &genpos=WR

Although the smaller of the two, Adams is much more-highly rated by the NFL scouts, going in the 4th round to the Carolina Panthers.
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David wrote:I am good with these signings. I was hoping some of these guys could have been signed earlier given this should be a "pull out all the stops" Grey Cup hosting season, but I guess they wanted to go by the book and wait for the expanded roster provision.

We needed another 3 technique guy on the line. Jabar has been an improvement on Khalif who's been strangely passive this season, but I have still not been completely happy with the pass rush. Incidentally, I sat next to one of the players on a recent flight back to YVR. He's very impressed with Rob Lohr; called him "a beast."

We've never replaced Korey Williams' breakaway speed so I am interested to see what the two new receivers can offer, probably for next season now. As for Leone, I don't know why Schmitt was nonplussed by the signing. His kick-offs have been great this season and his punting average (44.4) an improvement over McCallum, but it's often "like a box of chocolates." You just never know what you're going to get! Some of his punts he nails - high, tight spirals. A few are of the wounded duck variety - end over end and bounce forward for decent yardage. And then he struggles to positioning the ball at times when punting on the opponents' side of mid-field. Bottom line, they are looking to save cap space next year by having one guy do all 3 facets of kicking.

DH :cool:

I hate to be a nit picker (OK I don't hate it at all) but having only one kicker/punter doesn't save Cap Space as that former second kicker money now goes to a player at another position. So having just one kicker/punter means an additional backup/special teams guy and thus increases overall team depth.
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