Sports

The Oregon Ducks' Dennis Dixon has a bright future -- but in which sport?

EUGENE, Ore. — Dennis Dixon wears a lot of hats.

Dixon likes his Detroit Tigers cap because the "D" stands for his first and last names. He likes his Oakland A's cap because he grew up 10 minutes from McAfee Coliseum and because the green and yellow coordinates with his University of Oregon gear.

Three Atlanta Braves caps remind Dixon of his summer job and, perhaps, his future career. Atlanta picked him in the fifth round of June's draft and sent him to play outfield for its rookie league teams.

He left a month early so he could return to Eugene and put on another hat, the one you can see him in on highlight shows every week this fall. The guy in a green helmet with a big yellow "O" threw for three touchdowns and ran for another last month at Michigan and led Oregon to a landmark victory last week over Southern California.

He plays with such inventiveness and flair that what looks at first like a sack turns into a first-down run or a touchdown pass, and what began the season as an unranked team now looks like something special.

They're talking national championship and Heisman Trophy here in the Pacific Northwest, at a school where just a few years ago fans would leave the stadium at halftime to tailgate and return late or not at all for the third quarter. Their Ducks rank fourth in the Associated Press and USA Today polls, and their quarterback ranks fourth in two polls of Heisman voters and experts.

At the rate he's going, it's anybody's guess whose hat Dixon will wear whenever he makes his Atlanta professional debut, or whether it will come at the Georgia Dome or Turner Field. Dixon tells everyone who asks that even he can't say whether he will pick football or baseball.

"I can never give them a straight answer. It all depends on what I'm playing at the time," Dixon said. "I'm a real competitive guy, so I can't really choose one, but it's going to be a time where I'm going to have to."

The one thing he knows, he says, is that he won't continue playing both sports.

A year ago, there were no indications he would have a choice to make. He hadn't played baseball since high school; Oregon doesn't have a team. And he quarterbacked so poorly in the second half of his junior season that he lost his starting job for the final two games.

But baseball people hadn't forgotten his athleticism. The Philadelphia Phillies called. The Chicago White Sox called. And so did the Braves.

Dixon spent six months hitting in batting cages and reviving his baseball skills so he could show scouts he was worth more than the 20th-round pick the Cincinnati Reds spent on him after his senior year in high school. The Braves worked him out three times, the third in Atlanta. It was Dixon's first trip to the city.

"Loved it," Dixon said. "I could see myself there for awhile."

The Braves invested a reported $150,000 signing bonus, but only a small amount of it up front.

"I would say it's probably 10-20 percent," Braves director of scouting Roy Clark said, adding that the rest is payable when Dixon reports to 2008 spring training.

Braves scout Brian Hunter, a former big-leaguer, guided Dixon through his workouts. From the first one, he saw "a guy that has a lot of talent. He shocked me with his hands [at the plate]. He has a bright future in baseball."

You couldn't see it in Dixon's offensive statistics. He hit .176 with no home runs and seven RBIs in 28 professional games for teams in Kissimmee, Fla., and Danville, Va. He looked like what he was, a guy who hadn't played since 2003.

"It was mind-boggling. It was frustrating at times," Dixon said. "But then I came to reality. I had never hit with a wooden bat before. Getting a hit every once in awhile was great for me. "

Said Clark, "We're more concerned about his next 200 at-bats instead of his first 200.

"Hopefully, he can have some of that same success in baseball he's having right now in football."

Dixon sees himself as the Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones type, a superb defensive player who can produce at the plate. His defense came back much faster than his hitting. He played mostly right field for the Braves but showed the tools of a center fielder, Brian Hunter said.

"Anything with a hump on it, he caught it," he said. "He caught everything."

He caught baseballs; his teammates caught footballs. First baseman Freddie Freeman became Dixon's favorite and most willing pass-catcher in daily workouts after their baseball duties were complete.

Dixon used the bus rides to and from road games to study DVDs of Oregon's offense. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly kept in touch by text message and even used two vacation days to travel to Kissimmee for a visit. Dixon returned to Eugene a week before preseason camp.

"When he hit the practice field, you could tell he had done his work over the summer. He wasn't rusty," Kelly said.

Far from resenting Dixon's absence, teammates respected his work and elected him captain.

He has been full-time football ever since, except for the hours he devotes to granting interviews and attending his one class — billiards. He completed work on his sociology degree in 3 1/2 years.

At 6-feet-4, 205 pounds, Dixon plays like a 25-pounds-lighter version of the player who led Texas to the 2005 national title and now starts for the Tennessee Titans.

"He can be like a Vince Young-type quarterback," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "He is a more accurate passer and technically more sound than Vince Young."

Young was a No. 3 overall draft pick. If Dixon goes that high next April, his three Braves caps might become nothing but souvenirs.

Mike Knobler writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.