Marcus Dixon enrolls at Hampton University to play football

<p>Marcus Dixon, the former high school football star whose college career was derailed by a rape case, has enrolled at Hampton University in Virginia and is practicing for the upcoming season.</p><p>Dixon spent 15 months in prison after being convicted of aggravated child molestation and statutory rape. He was accused of assaulting a 15-year-old classmate in a trailer behind Pepperell High School in February 2003, when he was 18.</p><p>A jury acquitted Dixon of rape, but he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the molestation charge, a felony. Some called it an injustice because Dixon is black and the girl is white, although prosecutors denied that race played a role.</p><p>On May 3, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the felony conviction and its 10-year sentence, and a lower court ruled that Dixon already had fulfilled his sentence for statutory rape, a misdemeanor.</p><p>Dixon, an A student at Pepperell, had a scholarship to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., before his arrest. Vanderbilt rescinded its offer.</p><p>He has a scholarship to attend Hampton. A linebacker, tight end and defensive end in high school, Dixon is working out at defensive tackle, Hampton head coach Joe Taylor said.</p><p>"A lot of people down in the Atlanta area called me about him, said he was a good kid," Taylor said. "Most people know we have a lot of discipline up here."</p><p>Dixon's adoptive parents, Peri and Ken Jones, said the 19-year-old was prepared to go to Middle Tennessee State, but that fell through.</p><p>"We started calling some of the schools who had shown an interest in Marcus earlier, and the coaches at Hampton said they had a scholarship waiting, and they wanted him there right then," Peri Jones said. "We left home at 3:30 p.m. Thursday and got there at 3:30 a.m. Friday. They met us and moved him right into a dorm."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2868c74)</p>