Dixon brothers want to make last year together their best ever

They’ve been good but not great. They’ve had moments but not breakthroughs.

With one year left together, this is it.

“Being brothers and just getting the opportunity to play ball is amazing to me,” 11-year NFL veteran Chris Hope said. “To play on the same team, start on the same team, is really amazing. Both of their goals are to make it to the next level, and I think they’ll do it.

“But realistically, in the NFL, you’re not going to get a chance to play with your brother.”

South Carolina’s pair of Dixons – of Gerald Dixons, that is – enter 2015 as projected starters, Gerald “Big G” Dixon Jr. at nose tackle and Gerald G. “Lil’ G” Dixon at defensive end. Half-brothers born less than five months apart, each the son of former Gamecock and nine-year NFL veteran Gerald Dixon, the brothers took it upon themselves to make their last year their best year.

“I’m heading to Tennessee to work out,” Dixon Jr. said in May, clad in black gown and mortarboard after graduating with a degree in interdisciplinary studies (his brother accomplished the same). “My cousin is up there, and we’re going to train with him, make sure we’re in top shape for the season.”

The cousin is Hope, like the Dixons a Rock Hill native. A South Carolina Mr. Football recipient at Rock Hill High who went to Florida State, then a three-team career in the NFL (including a Super Bowl win with Pittsburgh), Hope’s father is Dixon Sr.’s first cousin.

There’s no doubt that Hope, who never played fewer than 10 games per season and started 113, can get the Dixons ready for the next level.

But separating from each other is going to be another hurdle.

The two played Pee-wee ball together before heading to different middle schools, their houses a couple of miles apart but split by district lines. Big G headed to Rawlinson Road Middle and then Northwestern High, while Lil’ G went to Saluda Trail Middle and South Pointe High.

Big posted a 15-0 senior year with a win over Lil’ and a state title, while Lil’ beat Big for state as a sophomore and racked up 19.5 sacks as a senior, teams running to his side to avoid some dude named Clowney. Dad, who completed the trio by assistant coaching at Rock Hill High, beamed as his sons, who nearly always hung out at his house on weekends, together pledged to be Gamecocks.

Each Dixon redshirted in 2011, Lil’ because of a hairline fracture in his leg. Big played in 12 games in 2012, but Lil’ got in three before sustaining a concussion.

Lil’ ended up OK – the NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility soon after, and he’ll be able to play for the Gamecocks in 2016. Dixon Jr. only has this year.

“We’ve all kind of swallowed that pill, and we can handle it,” Hope said. “Long as they both make it, we don’t care how long it takes for them to get there.”

Hope began working out with Dixon Sr. as a high-school senior when Dixon Sr. was winding down his NFL career. From there, he learned how to challenge himself – don’t work out with other defensive backs, his position; work out with players who are stronger and faster and try to do what they do.

“I always tell my cousins, ‘The more you do, the longer you stay,’” Hope said. “You’ll play positions you aren’t accustomed to, running down on kickoffs, trying to block a punt. When you’re young and not a starter, you play a little bit of everywhere.”

Guidance comes easily. Big G always was a listener. “He did whatever you asked, and he did it without question. You were always going to get his best effort,” said Bobby Page, a Northwestern defensive assistant. “He only knew one way, and that was full-speed.

“G might get in their ear every now and then, but he wasn’t a loudmouth, boisterous type. He was like E.F. Hutton in a lot of ways.”

Lil’ G, Dixon Sr. chuckled, might have a little too much Dad in him. “You might have to tell him two or three times to do something,” he said. “But he’s a great kid, too. He knows the game, he knows where everybody’s supposed to be at on the field, he does a little bit more studying.”

The prospect book on the Dixons read that Lil’ was probably the more talented of the two, but Big had the biggest motor. The stats back it up – Lil’ has 61 tackles, 7.5 for loss and three sacks in three years while Big has 56-4.5-1.5, but he blocked two field goals last year.

Hope didn’t have a set plan when the two came to Nashville or Rock Hill to work out. He watched them run drills, then worked with each on their weaknesses.

“Box jumps to be more explosive. A lot of conditioning to get used to carrying weight,” Hope listed. “I want to make sure they’re focused on the things they don’t do well, that they’re being smarter than the guy they’re playing against.”

They want to be smart. They want to be better. After 12 more games (13? 14? 15?), the road splits.

While the brothers saw that it circled to become one growing up, the next may be one way.

“They’re looking forward to this season,” Dixon Sr. said. “One will head off to pro ball, and I think the other one will go ahead and get himself together by then. Who knows what may happen?”

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 10:35 PM.