Eagles’ Dickerson has been a beast since area prep days

Before Landon Dickerson was preparing for the Super Bowl with his Philadelphia Eagles, before he was a Pro Bowl selection, before he was a second-round NFL Draft pick. Before he helped Alabama to an undefeated national championship season, before starting his collegiate career at Florida State or playing in the Under Armour All-America Game.

Before all of that, Dickerson was a 15-year-old sophomore starting at left tackle for the Hickory High School football team. His coach at that time in 2013 was Mike Helms, who had coached at Freedom over a run of four successful seasons from 2009-12.

Dickerson at 15 years old, Helms says, was 6-foot-5 and weighed about 280 pounds, with very little of that being body fat.

“Everything we did was kind of generated on him,” Helms said. “Sometimes, we’d flip him to the side we were running it to and put him at right tackle.

“We used to release the linemen on that quick screen we did, and he would get out there on a (cornerback), and I’m telling you by the second half, the corner wouldn’t even come out and play the pass. He would just back out because he’s tired of getting wailed on. And Landon was fast enough to get out on that corner.”

As big and fast as he was, there were other feats of versatility-displaying athleticism. Helms said Dickerson could do a full split. Dickerson was also a multiple-degree black belt by the time he was in high school, Helms said, with Dickerson having at age 11 already become the youngest black belt in the history of his dojo, according to the Eagles website. 

But it wasn’t just a unique set of physical tools that separated Dickerson from the pack.

“His big upside was his mind,” Helms said. “He was a really smart kid in school. He was the type kid to never blow an assignment, very rarely did he miss anything. 

“He was a guy that really thrived on the competition. He was a really fun kid to be around. He never complained, always had a positive attitude, didn’t think he was better than anybody else, never got in any type of trouble for us whatsoever. He was the type of kid you always knew he was going to be there. Never missed practice, virtually never missed a day of school. He was a really special player …  type of guy you just dream about coaching.”

Helms’ connection with Dickerson goes back a generation to when he played at Lenoir-Rhyne alongside Dickerson’s father, Jim, who was a defensive lineman.

Helms later coached at L-R, but even in the collegiate ranks, said he never coached a lineman comparable to Dickerson.

“By far, he’s the best high school lineman I’ve ever coached,” Helms said. “And he’s probably the best lineman period. When I was at (Lenoir-Rhyne), we had three get looks, they got (NFL) tryouts, but he’s better than anyone we had. And we had the tight end (Craig Keith) that played three years with the Steelers.” 

Helms recalls a specific play in Morganton that helped launch Dickerson toward the eye of college scouts.

“We were playing Patton and he had lost his helmet, and he went after a kid,” Helms said. “The whistle hasn’t blown obviously, we know you can’t play without a helmet. But he continued to block and went downfield and got a hold of someone else. And one of the coaches from Alabama saw the tape and they called me and they said, “Who is this kid?’ And I told them his dad is as big as he is, he’s going to be huge. And to be honest with you that’s where it started.” 

After Helms left as Hickory football coach, Dickerson played at South Caldwell, where he was named all-state. 

Dickerson then spent three mostly injury-plagued years at FSU from 2016-18 before he found a home at Alabama. With the Crimson Tide, Dickerson was a unanimous All-American and won the Rimington Trophy (given to the nation’s top center) as a fifth-year senior as Alabama steamrolled two College Football Playoff opponents to win the national title in undefeated fashion. 

Helms said just like at the high-school level, he noticed Dickerson never stopped blocking on run plays in college.

“Every time I’d see him at Alabama or Florida State, I’d always see him running downfield and getting after somebody,” Helms said. “That was his trademark. Once he made his block, he was going downfield to see if there’s anyone else he could hit.” 

Coming off a 4-11-1 season that got former Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson fired, the Eagles drafted Dickerson early in the second round with the 37th pick in the 2021 draft.

Dickerson was starting by Week 3 of his rookie season, when the Eagles reached the playoffs. And as Dickerson - now 24 years old and in his second season - has reached new heights in a Pro Bowl campaign, the Eagles have reached the Super Bowl for just the fourth time ever behind the league’s third-ranked offense.

Dickerson and company paved the way for a career season that lifted quarterback Jalen Hurts into the MVP discussion as he broke the league’s single-season record for rushing touchdowns for a quarterback and also enjoyed an outstanding passing season. 

Helms, who’s now on the coaching staff at Bandys High, said despite Dickerson checking nearly every box at every step along the way, success in the NFL is never something that can be expected.

“You tell kids, you know, the chances of you going pro are one in a million or very slim,” Helms said. “And he made it. He was one in a million. Even with all the attributes, the physical and mental, I’m still surprised. You’re dealing with the world’s best athletes. And Landon was able to achieve that.

“I think the key for Landon now is if he stays healthy, he could have a long, productive career.”

Paul Schenkel can be reached at 828-445-8595 (ext. 2002) or paul@thepaper.media.