Baxter's game can be analyzed from afar by any given person with a decent football IQ, but to comprehend his ability to control a game with the ball in his hands, you must witness him up close and personal. Baxter does not run a blazing 4.3 forty like his predecessor Reggie Bush, however, he has amazing "football speed" and can slice through defenses in every direction imaginable with his ability to stop on a dime, and make powerful cuts backwards, forwards, sideways and around defenders.
Having played college football at the Division I level for 4 years, and a total of 14 years overall, I hadn't walked away from a game in which a single player impressed me as much as Baxter since all 6-foot-5 230 pounds of Vincent Jackson (WR, San Diego Chargers) destroyed us when we hosted Northern Colorado at UC Davis my junior year. We've all heard of him by now, obviously.
At Mission Bay High School in San Diego, California, Baxter ran and threw like no player we have ever seen. To fully comprehend how astonishing Baxter was last season, first remember Michael Vick's 2002 season in Atlanta, where he finished the year with 3,713 yards of total offense, including 2,936 yards passing (16 TDs) and 777 yards rushing (8 TDs). The nation was electrified with the emergence of such a player in the NFL with the ability to outrun defenders on long acrobatic touchdown gallops and throw laser-like passes down the field. However, Vick wasn't the first, nor the most dynamic hybrid quarterback to show his athletic prowess on the gridiron.
You have to look back at the 1990 NFL season, in which Philidelphia Eagles signal caller Randall Cunningham changed the way the quarterback position would be played for good. Cunningham was an excellent passer and ended the year with 3,466 yards and 30 touchdown passes, but his ability as a runner was completely new for the league. He ran for 942 yards and averaged over 8 yards per carry, while Vick averaged just 6.9 yards per carry in 2002. Cunningham totaled 4,408 yards of offense in 1990, which is incredible when you look at how much America idolized Vick in his heyday, yet with much better numbers many have let Randall disappear into the NFL archives.
Now back to Baxter. In reference to Cunningham and Vick, two of the best hybrid quarterbacks of all-time, Baxter's numbers are astronomical regardless of the particular level of competition. In 2009, Baxter exploded for 4,896 yards of total offense, in just 13 games. The Mission Bay 1st Team All-American passed for 1,922 yards and 25 touchdowns, and rushed for 2,974 yards and 50 touchdowns. Baxter also caught a touchdown pass along the way, giving him a CIF state football record of 76 total touchdowns in a season.
Baxter scored 325 points in 2009, while the Eagles and Falcons scored 396 and 406 points respectively as a team when Cunningham and Vick had their NFL Pro-Bowl seasons. Vick's career long touchdown run is 58 yards. Baxter scored on a 98 yard TD run last year and had a total of 5 runs over 65 yards in 2009. He also threw for more than 200 yards on four occasions, and totaled 4 touchdown passes in a game three times as a senior.
In one of his best performances of the 2009 season, Baxter had 550 yards of total offense, with 282 yards through the air and 268 yards rushing in a 41-34 win over Lincoln High School. With a minimum of 12 attempts in a game, Baxter averaged over 14 yards per carry 6 times last year. In the CIF San Diego section football championship against Valley Center, Baxter had 384 yards rushing and a ridiculous 7 rushing touchdowns.
I'm not at all surprised with the attention the Trojans have received as a result of Baxter's highlight video and his performances at USC's spring camp. Regardless of the NCAA sanctions and the position the Trojans have landed themselves in, look for the nation to continue to be captivated all season long by the freshman Baxter. After he graduated high school a semester early, Baxter enrolled early in the Spring of 2010 at USC and is arguably already the most sensational player in this year's recruiting class. Reportedly, schools have already attempted to contact the young phenom, and I can see why.
California is a region that is known for producing a plethora of five-star high school pocket-passer QB recruits such as Matt Barkley, Mark Sanchez, Jimmy Clausen, Carson Palmer, and countless others, but the West coast is definitely not sleeping on mobility. Now that he has arrived at USC, the package formerly known as the "Wildcat" is now called "Diego"by the Trojan coaching staff, and should be considered an homage to Baxter and former San Diego prep football legends Marcus Allen and Reggie Bush.
Aaron M. Plunkett
Publisher
CollegeLevelAthletes.com
Dillon Baxter Football Highlights:
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