Like Isaiah Williams in 2023, Pat Bryant in 2024 and Hank Beatty in 2025, the Illinois Fighting Illini have found their go-to receiver for 2026. It's Collin Dixon, who followed up a solid opening night performance in the win over UAB, with a major breakout game in the week two loss to Duke.
"Super-competitive kid, extremely intelligent," Illini coach Bret Bielema said of Dixon
after the home loss to Duke."He's the same guy every day, his approach, his demeanor, his work ethic, and consistency is one of the most important things that you can bring to a program."
Perhaps Dixon will follow in the footsteps of his three Illini WR1 predecessors and take his game to the NFL. Beatty is currently on the Tennessee Titans practice squad. Bryant, a third
round pick by the Denver Broncos in 2025, had close to 400 yards receiving during his rookie year.
Williams went undrafted but he's currently on the "New York Football Jets" active roster, after having established himself as a punt returner while with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Last season, he earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors, for week eight, after racking up 170 return yards for the Jets against the team that had just recently let him go.
Of the three, Bryant is the one that Dixon comps the most to. Dixon is listed as 6'1," 215 pounds while Bryant is 6'2," 204 lbs. Both are more likely to just overall beat you, than they are to totally blow past you. While both Dixon and Bryant both possess home run threat speed, it's not their strongest suit.
They have the strength and size to just simply win the contested ball almost all of the time. Like Bryant was in Champaign, Dixon is a true alpha dog of the receiving corps, and the guy who is called upon whenever a third down conversion is needed.
Of all the strong traits that he brings to the table, route running might be his biggest strength.
"It's just we're very detailed- that's something that (Wide Receivers) Coach (Justin) Steps pushes," Dixon said on Saturday.
"Being very detailed and whether it's our routes or blocking, so when things are going well, I think it comes back to the details and executing the way that we want to."
Dixon had eight catches, 119 yards receiving and three touchdowns by halftime this past weekend. So he was asked in postgame if having a stretch like that, as a receiver, can feel like a basketball player being "in the zone" or "on a heater."
"You definitely get in a rhythm," Dixon responded. "Where it's kind of like I don't know, flow state. It might be a cliche, but it really does. It feels like everything slows down, so it's definitely like basketball."
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: NFL Draft stock report: buy- Collin Dixon, WR, Illinois
