Today, I want to spend some time highlighting one of the new transfers who hasn’t gotten a lot of attention: wide receiver Chimere Dike.
Dike, a former Wisconsin Badger, has gotten a little recognition in spring simply due to his connection with Graham Mertz. The latter mentioned at recent press availability that he’s thrown literally thousands of balls to the former over the years. That’s not using “literally” to mean “figuratively”, by the way. They worked and practiced together for three years and became good friends in the process. It’s a high number of pitches and catches between them.
Little has been made of Dike as an independent player. I came to know of him before most Gators, and I am higher on him than most Gators. Let me explain.
I have been thinking about Dike some lately simply because there are some on the beat with podcasts who never pronounce the poor guy’s name the same way twice. It half makes me chuckle and half makes me cringe. With my last name, I know what it feels like to have your name mispronounced often.
Let’s knock it out real quick. You can hear the man himself say his name here, but in case you can’t listen right now, here’s the deal. His last name is DEE-kay, like you’re saying the letters D and K in succession. His first name is CHEEM-uh-ray, but it should not sound like a three-syllable word. Aim like you’re trying for CHEEM-ray but slip the smallest, most barely perceptible schwa you can make in the middle.
Anyway, I first became aware of Dike last summer. I had the thought that Ricky Pearsall was probably going to be the best receiver that Graham Mertz had ever had, so I went to look at Wisconsin to see if that was true.
The only competition I could find was this Dike fellow. In 2022, Pearsall had 33 catches for 661 yards (20.0 average) and five touchdowns. In the same season up north, Dike had 47 catches for 689 yards (14.7 average) and five touchdowns. Pearsall was more explosive but less often used.
I tried to evaluate what I could quickly from a season highlight video, as I didn’t have the time to really dig into Wisconsin game film. Granted a lot of the plays in it came against bad teams, but there’s something there with Dike. I didn’t end up making that claim about Pearsall back then, as I couldn’t say with full confidence that it was true.
Now though? Yeah, it’s true. Pearsall improved himself and came tantalizingly close to 1,000 yards receiving. He’s going to be an early-round draft pick. One more season in college will soon pay off handsomely for him.
Fortunes changed drastically in the dairy state. Wisconsin replaced Paul Chryst and his boring old offense with Luke Fickell. You might think a former DC would keep Badger offensive tradition, especially given how things went at Cincinnati. Instead he hired Phil Longo, who is known for an Air Raid variant that’s uptempo and aggressive. You might know him from such hits as the Jordan Ta’amu-era Ole Miss teams or the recent UNC teams that put up pinball numbers and mediocre records because the defense was so bad.
Dike lost his connection with Mertz in 2023, and Fickell and Longo brought in former Oklahoma and SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai to be the triggerman. The results were a complete mess as the Badgers tried to transition away from literally decades of offensive strategy, and Dike wasn’t even healthy the whole way.
So, Dike’s best season is still that ’22 campaign. He finished his Wisconsin career with 1,478 yards.
Now, I happened upon a YouTube video from a few months ago where someone form a Wisconsin site breaks down the transfer situation. He does, of course, talk about Dike. This link ought to queue it up for you.
Dike is approximately the No. 18-20 receiver in school history. The host of the show says several times that we’re not talking about a high bar here since it’s Wisconsin, but Dike is solidly in the discussion for that kind of range.
You can compare UF’s list of top receivers by yardage to UW’s list and see how true it is. The Badgers actually do have three players ahead of top Gator Carlos Alvarez’s 2,563, but Wisconsin often goes long stretches with only one, maybe two good receivers who dominate the usage. UF typically has more guys to spread the ball around to. Florida has more than twice as many career 2,000+ yard receivers as UW does, and that club doesn’t even include Wes Chandler, Cris Collinsworth, or Percy Harvin.
Anyway, Florida’s No. 20 receiver by yardage is, coincidentally, Pearsall with 1,626. He did that in two years, whereas Dike got to No. 19 on Wisconsin’s list at 1,478 in essentially three years (he didn’t record a catch in 2020). From a high level career statistical standpoint, Dike’s work at Wisconsin is most comparable to Deonte Thompson’s at UF.
Now, the bit about Wisconsin’s traditional offense swings both ways. The competition in the record books isn’t as stiff because of the ground-and-pound offense, but it also doesn’t give as many opportunities to shine. A player could play identically as well at Florida and Wisconsin but end up with fewer catches or especially yards at the latter because of play choice and the scope of ambition.
In other words, I think Dike has a chance to have something of a breakout season this year. He has to contend with Tre Wilson getting a lot thrown his way, but Billy Napier’s offense passes a lot more than Chryst’s did. It also isn’t as stale as Chryst’s was either.
Dike played in the waning years of an offense that was beyond stale and still ended up decently high on the receiving list in school history. I don’t know if he’ll match Pearsall in production, but I do think he’ll be better than his comp, Thompson. If nothing else, Mertz will probably look to Dike a lot when he gets in trouble because of their deep rapport.
So don’t sleep on Dike, is what I’m saying. UF still could use another playmaker out wide from the portal, but that’s because of past recruiting missteps. Rest assured, the Gators have a good one in Dike.