Dixon keeps things in perspective on Shrine Game trip

True, ex-Gamecock Gerald Dixon Jr. was in St. Petersburg, Fla., to play football. The defensive tackle was there to show off his skills, impress scouts, get things rolling for the next chapter of his career.

But that wasn’t his favorite part of the East-West Shrine Game.

“The most fun part was going to the hospital on Sunday to see the kids,” Dixon said. “A lot of people think it’s just a game, but it’s really about those kids. It’s crazy, how much money they raise for those kids.”

The event raises money for the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Dixon has already played in one Shrine game, out of high school in Rock Hill. This time, he found himself in unfamiliar company. Originally a member of the East squad, he was switched to the other team a week later, suddenly lining up alongside Oregon and Stanford players for the West squad.

Playing under former NFL coach Jerry Glanville, he got a decent amount of playing time in the nine-man rotation. Granted, the game was not the main event in a football sense, and he could feel it.

“To me, the practice really was the game, just having those scouts out there watching us,” Dixon said. “So you had to treat it like a game Monday through Wednesday. So, like, I had a game three days in a row.

“When Saturday came, the game, it was like, a lot of players, they were playing hard but you could just tell.”

He said around 10 teams approached him during the week to talk, with San Diego being the most interested.

Despite the presence of a considerable number of scouts, Dixon said he didn’t pay much attention to scene around practices. He just took the field and got to work as he did in Columbia.

“Personally, I didn’t think it was that stressful,” Dixon said. “Like I went out there and treated it like another practice or a game.”

After the game, he returned to Miami to continue training for South Carolina’s pro day. He’s hoping for an NFL Combine invite, but had not received word on that front a few days after the Shrine Bowl.

And while he’ll have work on that front, he also got a jolt from the experience of others fighting for something less grand but more important.

“Seeing those kids, when they say just a hello or a hug will make their day,” Dixon said of the hospital trip. “A lot of them would like to be in your shoes. Just makes you thankful and blessed to be in the situation you are. Because it could be worse. Those kids. They want to play football and they want do those things because of their situation, but they can’t.”