Illinois has a star in Collin Dixon

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With the departure of Luke Altmyer — the most decorated quarterback in recent Illinois football history — the future of the position was uncertain. To fill his shoes, head coach Bret Bielema brought in East Carolina transfer Katin Houser, who threw for 3,300 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2025.

As a redshirt-senior at Illinois, the wide receiver room looked uncertain with the departure of third team All-Big Ten receiver Hank Beatty. Without Beatty, one of Hudson Clement or Collin Dixon needed to step up to be a true X-factor pass catcher for Houser. 

Two games into the 2026-27 season, that is exactly what Collin Dixon has done.

Dixon, a 6-foot-1 senior from Ohio looks poised for his best season by far. In 2025, Dixon caught a respectable 35 passes for 548 yards and five touchdowns. So far in 2026, Dixon has 17 catches for 236 yards and five touchdowns.

In the season opener against the UAB Blazers, Dixon led all receivers with six catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Of course, in the second half, the game wasn’t very close. With a big lead, the offensive gameplan changed and the running game became the focus. Against Duke, Dixon was targeted four times on the first drive alone and scored the first touchdown of the game. In the first half alone, Dixon caught nine balls for 135 yards and three touchdowns; a career day in just one half. He finished the game with 166 yards on 11 catches, including those three touchdown catches.

Dixon has had an exciting start to 2026, and certainly has become Houser’s favorite target. The Houser-Dixon connection seems to only be growing, but with just one more non-conference game left, can Dixon’s breakout season continue into conference play?

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