As the fifth of nine kids in his family, the firstborn son and the first child to go to college, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga linebacker Amanuel Dickson isn’t one to let any opportunity pass by.
So when the chance arose for Dickson to graduate from Greeneville High School early and enroll at UTC in spring 2024 — and with it, the opportunity to learn from an experienced group of linebackers — he pounced on it. It’s that experience he gained, that knowledge that has led him to being in line to start for the Mocs in their 2025 season, which kicks off Aug. 30 at Memphis.
“I have four older sisters, but I feel like my sisters look up to me because I’m the first to go to college out of all of them, and then they have daughters themselves,” Dickson said. “I want to be a good influence on my nieces, and I’m about to have a nephew, and for my little brothers. … All of them have dreams, aspirations of being a college athlete, and they’ve seen it a bunch in our family, but they’ve never seen it like their older brother, the first one to do it out of the actual group that we have.
“I just look at this as a blessing to be able to come out and put on for them, put on for the city and the last name.”
Dickson’s maturity has helped him be ready for this opportunity to potentially start alongside fellow linebacker Zion Rutledge, a junior. It probably would have been another season before Dickson got the chance to start on defense for UTC, but then Alex Mitchell — a former prep star for Murfreesboro’s Riverdale who made a team-high 101 tackles in this third season with the Mocs last fall — transferred back home to finish his collegiate career at Middle Tennessee State University.