Catching up with Jordon Dizon

BuffStampede.com recently caught up with former Colorado All-American linebacker and captain Jordon Dizon as part of our off-season "Catching up with" series. He played for the Buffaloes from 2004 to 2007 and ranks fourth all-time at Colorado with 440 career tackles. Dizon talks about everything from hunting boars as a youth, his progression as a player at CU, his career-ending injury and his life post-football.

How is life treating you these days?

Jordon Dizon: "Pretty good. I am currently a fire-fighter, enjoying life, enjoying raising my little daughter and expecting another one any day now."

You are originally from Hawaii, of course... what led to your move back here to Colorado?

"Basically it is my love for the Buffs. I missed them and I missed going to games, I missed going to practice and being part of that family. I moved back to Hawaii for three years after my stint in the NFL and ever since I was there, I always felt this pull back to Colorado just because I wanted to be part of the family. I have been back here for about nine months."

Did you meet your wife at CU? Is she originally from Colorado?

"Yes, my wife is Chelsea (formerly Chelsea Haverty). She ran track at CU so she was a student-athlete with me."

And you are expecting your second daughter any minute now...

"Any moment. We had a false call this morning about one o'clock but my wife is still at home. Due date is any day now so we're excited."

You were an Economics major at Colorado and were twice an All-Big 12 academic selection. What led to you becoming a fire-fighter? What happened between your football career ending and coming out here and being a fire-fighter?

"Well, I tried the whole corporate world. I was a manager at a hotel back in Hawaii and it just didn't suit me. I missed the camaraderie, I missed the fellowship of being part of a team. And so I wanted a different career path and I chose to become a fire-fighter and I did that in Hawaii for two years. I absolutely fell in love with it. Coming out here to Colorado, I wanted to continue my career as a fire-fighter so I got a job with Greeley and I have been enjoying every moment of it. I enjoy helping people, I enjoy being part of a team every single day. It is something that reminds me of a locker room. It reminds me of my love for football and love for sports and the competitiveness that comes with it. It is an awesome job, it suits me. The corporate world was just something I couldn't get used to."

What are some of the ways that your past as a football player helps you now being a fire-fighter?

"When you run calls and when you are there to help people, emotions run high, anxiety runs high, everything is elevated. When I look back to sports and I look back to what I went through and what I dealt with as a linebacker and making calls and dealing with stress, I am able to control that and keep my anxiety level down and be able to be calm when everybody else expects me to be crazy. I truly, truly think that is straight from football. There are things that should be driving me crazy but I am able to just be myself and keep my thoughts clear."

It seems like a fascinating line of work with the way fire-fighters are portrayed in the movies. How similar is being a fire-fighter to how it is portrayed? Are there things that maybe the average person doesn't understand about what it takes to be a fire-fighter?

"Becoming a fire-fighter is the hardest part. It took me three years to the day, from applying to actually becoming a fire-fighter. There is a lot of training that goes into it. There is not a lot of down time. You get done with work at seven and you eat your dinner and then you can sleep for the night or you might be up all night. It is a hard gig. We do two days on and four days off. We are away from our families and we are working hard and when we get home, we are exhausted. But at the same time, we don't do it for any fame or money. We do it because we love our jobs and we love helping people. That is what we're there for every day."

We'll get into your time at CU and your experience playing for the Buffs, but just going back to your childhood in Hawaii, what initially got you into football?

"My first love was basketball and it still is. I quit football my freshman year of high school to play basketball and I was somewhat forced by my peers and my Vice Principal at my high school to play football. And ever since then I have slowly become a huge fan of football and what it represents and what it brings out of a person. It is not necessarily the game itself, it is what it makes you do. It makes you believe in yourself. You can do a lot more than you think you can. It helped me out a lot with self-confidence, generating a lot of respect in myself because it is a tough sport. Day-in and day-out it is a grind, and I did that. Now I know I can do anything and I attribute that to football. My love for football didn't start really well but it ended up very good."

Now, when you got to CU, I remember these stories that you hunted boars in your youth. Is that true, were you running around with just a knife hunting?

"Yeah, we have a big hunting family back home and we have a bunch of dogs and all that good stuff. We do it the natural way, we do it with a knife and dogs. My family still does it to this day. I, unfortunately, couldn't do it anymore. It was too much for me. I went home and I had been Americanized. Even though Hawaii is part of America, I got Americanized. It is tough to do because you are actually ending this pig's life. But it is something I definitely did growing up but can't do anymore."

Is that something that helped you out with football? Obviously being a linebacker you have to have good instincts and chase down someone on the field...

"As far as that helping me in football, maybe it did? It probably made me tougher because you are chasing these pigs for miles on end and you don't quit. But I attribute a lot of my athletic success to my past coaches, past peers, having that support is what got me as far as I got."

Your mother is a police officer back in Hawaii, correct?

"Yes, she has been a police officer for about 30 years now."

Was she a fan of you getting into football?

"Yeah, she supported me in whatever I did, football, basketball. And when I joined football, of course she did the motherly thing of saying, 'You don't have to do it if you don't want to.' I appreciated that. A lot of parents who have a kid that is somewhat decent in sports, they push them and force them to do things they don't want to do. I had a mom, and a dad, too, that supported me with every thing I wanted to do."

You can Google your name and your recruiting profile will still show up... you were a three-star prospect but were actually listed as a fullback. Did you know where you were going to fit in when you arrived at CU? Did the coaches at CU even really know where you were going to fit in when they signed you?

"No, it is actually a funny story. I was a fullback/running back going into camp my freshman year. One day, there was an interception and as a running back, I went and tackled the guy that intercepted the ball. I must have made a good tackle, or nailed the guy, or did something right because the next day I was a linebacker. That is how the whole transition went down. Thank God, because I am not that fast. I am glad I made the switch."

When long-time Buffs linebackers coach Brian Cabral got you in his group, he wasn't going to let go of you. I remember your first camp with the Buffs when they came out with the first depth chart and here is a true freshman at the top of the depth chart. We're all wondering, 'Is Coach Cabral trying to send a message to the other guys? Or is this Jordon Dizon guy the real deal?' What was your recollection of that first camp? Were you surprised that you had risen up the depth chart so fast?

"I was. He wasn't trying to send a message to anybody else but me. I think the biggest thing I lacked when I first got there, coming from a small high school in Hawaii, was self-confidence. He put me up there to say, 'Hey, this is who you are and what you're going to be. Whether you like it or not, you're this good.' That is what I struggled with. When he put me at the top of the depth chart for the first game against CSU, I told him, 'I am not ready for this. This is not me.' He goes, 'You better be ready because you are starting.' I appreciate it to this day because I lacked that self-confidence. He knew exactly how to push my buttons. I respected him too much to back down. So he put me up there and I had to rise up to the occasion. He was 100 percent sending me a message that I was good enough for this."

Going off that... you had two different head coaches during your time at CU, but you were fortunate enough to have the same position coach throughout your college career. What type of relationship did you have with Coach Cabral and how did that develop during your time in Boulder?

"It was such a great relationship. He was 100 percent my dad away from home. He did everything for me, whether it was discipline me, hug me, a shoulder to cry on. I was so far away from home and he was just there for me. There is more to being a coach than just teaching someone the X's and O's. It is being there for them through thick and thin. He knew what I was going through. That is what makes him such a great coach. I'll just say it, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but man, he could get a player to play their lights out and that is your job as a coach. For a coach to make a player play at his optimum level, mentally and physically, is what I believe a true coach is about. And that is what he did. He made me believe in myself and allowed me to play to the best of my abilities. And I thank him every day for it because it is still in my blood, what he taught me, what he showed me I can do."

You said that you didn't feel like you were ready as a freshman but obviously Coach Cabral turned out to be right because you earn Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year honors, you are a Freshman All-American, you record 82 tackles that first season. You kind of made it look easy coming in... what was going through your head during that season? Did you feel like after you made a few plays you were comfortable in that role?

"It was a work in progress that season. After I made a mistake, I usually went into a hole or beat myself up for it. That was my biggest struggle that season because I hate letting my teammates and coaches down. Brian did a great job, he would always say, 'You are good for two mistakes. You get a free pass. And after those two mistakes, I'll correct you.' He made me more relaxed. He made me believe that it is okay for me to make a mistake and life goes on, the game goes on. To overcome that was hard for me, but he definitely simplified it and made me see that everyone is going to mess up. We made it work, it was a good first year."

Did any upperclassmen take you under their wing that first year at CU?

"There was this guy named Akarika Dawn, and Thaddaeus Washington. Akarika Dawn was a starter, he was their guy. And then I came in from Hawaii and out of nowhere took his job. Boy, if that happened to me, I wouldn't be mad but I would be frustrated. But he stepped into that role of being a big brother and helped me in everything I needed to do. It made me so much more comfortable because sometimes there is animosity and frustration between players with who is first-team and who is second-team. For him to stand up and be a man about it, and take it, it was just unbelievable. We had such a great group of linebackers, not only my first year, but throughout my career. Again, it comes back to our coach, Brian Cabral. He did a great job of making us a great group of guys."

You didn't necessarily have a sophomore slump, you were named honorable mention all-Big 12 in 2005, but you had 21 less tackles than you did as a freshman. What changed there? Something with the scheme?

"Yeah, there wasn't much of a dip in productivity, I just played a different role. We moved the defense around a little bit and we put different personnel on the field. I was more of a backside pursuit guy my second year. You don't get the opportunity to make as many tackles. You're responsibility is if something happens on the backside of the defense. So in essence, I was doing my job and everybody else was doing their job because I didn't have many tackles. I don't think I had a sophomore slump. I learned a lot more that year than I did my freshman year. I was more in tune with what was going on. I understand what the defense was doing a lot more, and I understood what the offense was doing a lot more. So it was a point in my career where I felt like I was actually in tune with what was going on. Your freshman year, you are kind of a deer in headlights, like, 'Oh my gosh, here comes the guy with the ball, I better tackle him.' You don't understand why or when."

Before you get to the second half of your college career, there is a coaching change that takes place. Gary Barnett is fired, Dan Hawkins comes in. You win a Big 12 North title in 2005 but things are kind of trending in a negative direction and the black cloud of the recruiting scandal is still kind of hanging over the program. Were you okay with the coaching change or was it frustrating?

"Any time the reign changes hands, it is difficult for a lot of people. There are people that just don't get along anymore and there was animosity between coaches and players. So we did have a rough year [in 2006]. It was hard to come together as a team. There was a split. A lot of people wanted Barnett, a lot of people were accepting of Hawkins. It is hard to put together a winning team like that. So we struggled a little bit. But I think as a whole, for what was done and what was said and for all the stuff that we had gone through between the scandal and the coaching change, I think we came together as a whole a lot better than it could have been. It could have been a lot worse."

As a junior in 2006, you take the next step individually. You earn second-team all-conference honors after recording 137 tackles, which was the most by a Buff linebacker in 10 years. What allowed you to take that next step and bring it all together?

"That is exactly what it is, bringing it all together. Coach Cabral did a great job of understanding where I was at in my career and understanding that I got it now. He could turn me loose. He could blitz me, send me off the edge, use me for a lot of other things because I understood the basics of it now. Yeah, it took me two years. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, either, so it took me two years to actually understand how an offense and a defense and a team works. When that got all put together, it makes such a great player. You see a lot of these NFL teams that try to force a quarterback too early or force a player that was good in college into a role way too early, way too soon, and they struggle and they ultimately fail. Cabral noticed that and he believes it does take time for a person to come around. And when it did, and when it happened, he realized it and he set me loose. I was able to play freely, which allowed me to have all those tackles."

I was talking with one of your former teammates, defensive end Abraham Wright, about that 2006 season. He enjoyed a lot of individual success, you enjoyed a lot of individual success but you guys only won two games. He used the words bitter sweet to describe that season. Was it similar for you?

"It was a bitter sweet season. For me, I am a very black and white guy. We either win or we lose. And we lost. So it was more bitter than anything else for me, especially for the fans. For a fan base to go through that, that is not fun. We went from something so good to struggling and I didn't like that. That is not part of how I operate, and I was a big part of it, I was a leader on the defense and a team captain so I felt responsible for it."

And then your senior season, you were a Butkus Award runner-up, a consensus All-American, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year after recording 160 tackles and two interceptions... was it another level you rose to as a senior?

"This is so funny because I remember this conversation vividly, it sticks in my head because it is something I strive to achieve now.... that is, you become so good that you have to start leading by example. You basically become the guy on the pedestal for the defense that everybody looks up to and everybody wants to be like you. At that point, if you fail, the team fails with you. Or you strive and the team strives with you. It is part of that leadership deal and Cabral said, 'This is it for you. You are it. As you go, the team goes.' And I took that as a challenge. I wanted to be the best that I could be so the defense could be the best that it could be. So I turned it on. I tried to play the best football I could possibly play. I played lights out every game that I could. I did it for myself, and it I did it for the team around me, and more importantly I did it for the fans. They deserved the best out of me. They are there every game whether it is cold, windy, hot, raining, they are there for us. The only way to show respect back to them is to play our butts off. And my senior year, I believe that is what they deserved from me and our defense and I tried to be the best leader I could be."

The fact that you were able to play in a bowl game in 2007, after that rough two win season, did that allow you to leave CU feeling some pride?

"Yeah, you get to kind of leave with your head held high that you had some success. Is it what I wanted? Absolutely not. Not even close. I wanted a Big 12 Championship. I wanted to go out on top. But it was a huge success for our team to overcome what we did the year before. It was just good to have an extra game with my teammates in front of my family. It was good for the fan base. They got to watch another game. But I was really, really sad to go."

50,000 fans can pack Folsom Field but they don't get to see what it is like to be a CU player behind the scenes. Do you have any stories from your time in Boulder that fans would enjoy?

"The thing that fans don't get to see is the hard work that goes into it. Not necessarily from the players but the coaches. Those guys devote their lives to the scheme of what we're playing and to the team that we're playing. Ultimately our success falls on them. They teach us, they show us, they coach us exactly what we need to do for the opponent. And once that's done, there is another game after that, there are 11 more after that. As a student-athlete, is it tough? Yeah. Is there a lot of studying and a lot of hard work that goes into it? Yeah. But we're enjoying ourselves, we're doing what we do best. I appreciated the opportunity at CU so much. The fans were great, my teammates were great, the town was unbelievable. And the state of Colorado is something else. That is why I moved back. It is such a loving, caring, awesome place that brings out the best in people. I am glad to be back."

You have that great senior season and then you get prepared for the NFL. What was that off-season like?

"I go back to a conversation with Brian Cabral, and I remember these things because they mean a lot to me. He basically said, 'Enjoy the ride. This is not something everybody gets to do and it is something that once it is done, it is done and you'll want it to be a good memory rather than a bad memory.' So everything that I did leading up to the NFL, going from college, I just enjoyed. I worked out with a lot of good people. I had a good trainer in Loren Landow. He did a great job with me. I just had fun. It wasn't stressful. It wasn't anything I was crazy worried about. I wanted to do something that I enjoyed. Even though it was a little hectic at times, I had fun."

Where were you when the Detroit Lions selected you in the second round?

"This is a funny story, I was just telling this story. I was at my wife's parents' home in Windsor and we had just gone to the store. My wife's family wanted a Hawaiian meal so I went and bought a bunch of stuff. When we got out of the car, my wife dropped the Teriyaki sauce. I was like, 'Don't worry about it. We'll figure something out.' But she wanted to go back to the store to get it. She was gone 15-20 minutes and within those 15-20 minutes, by golly, I got the call from Matt Millen and got drafted. To this day she feels terrible that she wasn't there when my name was called."

So you go to Detroit and record 31 tackles as a rookie, play a lot on special teams. Then they move you to outside linebacker and you continue to play some. But then, just three years into your professional career, you suffer a terrible knee injury. Was it three ligaments in your knee that you tore?

"I tore my ACL, MCL and PCL, basically dislocated my knee to a point where I just couldn't play anymore. I couldn't function. It was sad. It was a point in my life where I realized my career is over. When I look back at my career in the NFL with Detroit, I am so appreciative of what they have done for me and what they gave me. It was really, really sad, though, because football had been part of my life for so long. To have one play change everything in your life, literally flip it upside down was really hard."

Did you know when you went in for surgery this was most likely career ending? Did you have some aspirations on the other side to come back and play again?

"Of course you have aspirations and you want to come back and play and you try your absolute best. I rehabbed for a year-and-a-half. I just couldn't get my knee back to where it once was. I couldn't move laterally and I had a bunch of knee pain and it would always swell up. It was just an issue for me. My wife and I made a decision and said, 'This is it. This is a good time for me to step aside.' I had a good career. That is how it ended."

You have a good perspective on things now, you are happy with your life. Does that make it easier to put that in the past?

"It does. There comes a point in your life where you have to start separating. My wife did a good job with me in showing me that life goes on. Football is in the past. We have a kid now, we have another one on the way. I have a beautiful wife and that is my life now. That is what I should be appreciative for and I should be thankful to have what I had and never take it for granted. But I am in a different stage in my life. I appreciate everything that football has done for me but I am looking forward to what life has to offer me now. That is being a father and being a great fire-fighter and being a great citizen to this community and this country."

When people hear you played in the NFL, or recognize you from your time at CU, do you enjoy that? Or is it a little bit awkward in a sense because, like you said, you have to separate yourself from football now?

"You do enjoy it because there is a sense that you impacted someone, there is a Buff fan out there that you impacted. There is a sense of, 'Oh, cool! I did something.' But at the same time, hey, that is in the past. Look, I have a pretty daughter and a good life. So I try to stray away from the whole football conversation. Life goes on. I am in a good place now and I love everything about my life, and the people around me are awesome."

You were part of the last CU team that played in a bowl game. Obviously the Buffs have struggled since you left. Have you kept a close eye on the program? Do you have any idea why things went south after you left?

"As far as why things went south, I have no idea. I don't know all the dynamics of what went on. The good thing is we have a bright future ahead of us. We have a great coach, a great group of guys and I keep looking at all the recruits we're getting and I am excited. There was a point a few years ago where I was just nodding my head in disbelief with the firing of coaches and hiring of coaches and all that stuff but I finally feel like CU is in a great place. With the new A.D. and the new head coach and the new recruiting system with how they are doing things, their mode of operation, I am excited for them and everybody else should be. This is a point in the Buffs' story that we should be showing the most support and the most love and just be there for them. This is when they need us the most. I think if we're out there hooting and hollering, I think it'll show way more on the field than we think."

Addison Gillam suffered some injuries last season as a sophomore... did you get a chance to watch him at all during his first campaign in 2013 when he was a Freshman All-American? Is it fun as a former Buff linebacker to see him play wearing your old number?

"Yeah, it is a lot of fun to watch someone play like that. Not just the number, but he reminds of how I played, just go get the ball. It doesn't matter who is front of you or behind you, go get the ball. I love a player like that, with instincts and courage to just go. Hats off to him. He had some injuries but, man, he is good. He is definitely bigger and faster than I was but he reminds me of my instincts and how I got to the ball."

You see all these spread offenses in the Pac-12... are you glad you played at CU when you did when the Buffs were still in the Big 12?

"Oh yeah, the way calls are going and the way offenses are run, I am 100 percent so glad that I played in the era that I did where it was run first, pass second, or 50/50 at most. Now it is 70 to 80 passes a game. Man, those games would be so long and so hard to defend with all the things offenses can do. I am only four or five years removed from football and the way it has changed blows my mind. Hats off to the defense. I know they are getting better but a lot of these games they are put in a tough spot with how these offenses operate now."

Before I let you go, if you were talking to a linebacker coming up right now, maybe entering CU as a freshman, what advice would you give to them?

"Enjoy yourself, enjoy the moment because once you start having fun, things start to fall into place and you bring the best out of people and you bring the best out of yourself. There is not a game that I can remember where I didn't have fun. It is contagious. If you are having fun, so is everybody else. So if you are a freshman out there, whether it is football, basketball, have fun because it does end. There could be one play that ends it all, so please everyone out there, have fun and do what you do best."

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