BY DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

RESERVE-There is no more Ryan Perrilloux.

This is now officially Ricky Dixon’s team.

The best player on one of the best team’s in all of Class 5A, East St. John senior wide receiver Ricky Dixon is hoping that his senior season will be a special one as the Wildcats will be making a run at the state championship in Class 5A.

Dixon will be leading one of the most talented wide-receiving corps in the state, as he joins Louis Lee and Roy James, giving first-year quarterback Johnnie Thiel three prolific targets to throw to.

“I’m really excited,” Dixon said. “With the receivers we have coming back (Lee and James); it is really gong to help us out a lot.”

East St. John Head Coach Larry Dauterive said Dixon is a very special type of player.

“He is just so versatile,” Dauterive said of Dixon. “He can throw it as well as he can catch it. He runs well, he is big and he has good jumping ability. He caught 66 passes for 1,366 yards last season. He is a very productive receiver.

“Along with Ricky, I think all three of our receivers will be Division I players. They are all going to sign with somebody.”

One of the most heavily recruited players in the state, Dixon was named a member of the rivals.com Top 40 players in the state.

While prospective college athletes can chose to five different schools to take official visits to, Dixon said he has already narrowed his choices down to his top two schools.

“For me, it is LSU and Florida,” Dixon said. “I am going to plan to try and visit Florida during this upcoming football season. I have been to LSU a lot of times and on other people’s visits. I don’t know if I am really going to take an official visit to LSU, because I know everything that they offer. I’ve seen everything. I’m definitely going to be at the LSU-Florida game this season. I’m going to be at LSU at lot this season.”

While the Gators and Tigers headline the senior wide receivers list, Dixon said he would still take advantage of his other three visits that he is allowed to take.

“We are probably going to take all five visits,” Dixon said. “I know that we are going to Miami and UCLA and possibly Florida State. If we don’t go there, the final visit is kind of up in the air.”

The familiarity with the Tigers, Dixon said, makes them a slight favorite. The reason for this familiarity is the incoming quarterback in Baton Rouge, former East St. John standout Ryan Perrilloux.

While Dixon said he would love to catch passes from his quarterback on the next level, Perrilloux’s future would not come into his decision.

“It is not like if Ryan doesn’t start I’m not going to LSU,” Dixon said. “That has nothing to do with me. However, there is a lot of chemistry between Ryan and myself because we have played so long together. We know each other so well.”

Dixon has all the tools that make college coaches foam at the mouth. A big, tall wideout who runs a 4.65 40-yard dash and who is academically qualified.

“I’d say I’m been offered by anywhere from between 20-25 schools,” Dixon said.