“Where Wannstedt has said that he wishes Dickerson had taken a redshirt to learn how to play linebacker, Dickerson expressed no dissatisfaction with switching to defense last season even though he made only 15 tackles. “I’m not going to regret playing linebacker,” Dickerson said, “because I wanted to try it out, and (Wannstedt) agreed with it and I agreed with him. It was fun. I do miss it a little bit, but things happen in mysterious ways.
I had that mind-set whenever I was a freshman,” Dickerson said. “I knew what my abilities, knew what I could do. I had to let it pass because everyone goes through adversity. I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do.”

Key phrases: ” Because I wanted to try it out” (His choice) “It was fun” (Fun! - Who would have thought that?) & “Everyone goes through adversity” (injuries his freshman year).

We fans get way too wrapped up in how we might feel being in these kid’s places, and overlook how they actually do feel. I’m in the military and realized long ago I’d never make Admiral (akin to wanting to play in the NFL if you would). But, I never felt at any moment that what I did or was doing wasn’t still valuable and - yes - fun.

I’ll trust Dickerson to have a better take on the situation than us outsiders.

All you have to do is look at some other 5* recruits and you can see how crazy that first paragraph is…. Bostick certainly showed all the right markers in HS to justify his lofty ranking, didn’t he? Derek Williams was the #1 recruit in the country and has just torn up the Big Ten for PSU. Chris Bell, the Benihana Chef who played WR at PSU, was a very highly nationally ranked 5* - wasn’t that crappy how the coaching staff there screwed him over? The list goes on and on……

It’s so easy to sit back and second guess, speculate and criticize Wannstedt for how Dickerson’s first two years went - without knowing 99% of what actually transpired. And assuming DW made a promise that DD wouldn’t redshirt his first season is, unless you have solid info on that score, unreasonable to assume. I could see him promising a player that he would have a real and valid chance to compete for playing time in the camps, but very much doubt he promised any kid he would definitely play his first year.

We’ll see how things go for DD over the next two years - but there has been numerous articles written about him based on first hand information and actual interviews with both Dickerson and Wannstedt - and not once have I read that Dickerson is anything but content with how things have progressed. It’s telling that fans with no actual knowledge or involvement are so much more upset then the principals in this situation.

Let’s give credit (and blame) where its due, but avoid throwing blanket statements like, “the coaching staff has issues” due to one player not panning out the way we expected him to.