Cameron Dicker

Early life

Cameron Lawrence Dicker was born in Hong Kong, to Kelly and Rachel Dicker. He has one sister, Annabelle. His parents were from Seattle but were working in China. He spent the first eleven years of his life in Shanghai, where his father worked. Dicker grew up watching soccer and is a fan of Liverpool F.C. In 2011, when he was 11, his family moved to Austin, Texas.

Dicker didn't play football until the fifth grade as part of an ex-pat youth league in Shanghai. He moved to Austin and played on the middle school team, as left guard.

During his high school career at Austin's Lake Travis High School, Dicker was a two-time all-state selection and was the starting kicker for three seasons and the starting punter for two seasons, winning the Texas 6A Division I State Championship in 2016 with teammates Garrett Wilson and Charlie Brewer and was state runner-up in 2015. Dicker had 331 points, going 34–43 on field goal attempts and 229–232 on extra point attempts. Additionally, Dicker set a Lake Travis High School record with a 53-yard field goal. Dicker was ranked the number four kicker in the nation by 247Sports and the number 16 kicker nationally by ESPN in the 2018 class. On May 4, 2017, Dicker committed to Texas.

He also played soccer at Lake Travis, helping them to the 2015 State Championship game.

College career

Dicker played college football at the University of Texas where he earned immediate playing time, winning the starting role as a freshman. He kicked his first career game-winning field goal against #7 Oklahoma. In that game he gained notoriety as "Dicker the Kicker" (by play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson of Fox Sports) when he kicked the game-winning 40-yard field goal in the Red River Showdown. For that kick he was named the Big 12 Special Teams player of the week for the first time. He was named Big 12 Special Teams player of the week against after the Texas Tech game when he was perfect for kicking, hitting field goals of 46 and 52 yards. The 52 yard field goal he hit was tied for the 3rd longest by a freshman in school history. He went 18–25 on field goals and 51–52 on extra points that year, earning 2018 second-team All-Big 12 honors, honorable mention as Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year and All-Rookie Academic All-Big 12 honors. His field goals kicked and attempted both led the Big 12 that year, and it was the most field goals kicked by a freshman in Texas history. His 97 points scored was the 2nd most by a freshman in school history. That season he helped the Longhorns make it to the 2018 Big 12 Championship game, to upset Georgia in the 2019 Sugar Bowl and finish ranked #9.

Before the 2019 season started, he was placed on the Lou Groza Award watchlist. That season he kicked a college career long 57 yard field goal against Rice, the 6th longest in Big 12 history and 7th longest in school history at the time. The only Longhorn to kick a longer field goal is Russell Erxleben. A few weeks later against Kansas he went 6 for 6 on extra points and 2 for 2 on field goals, including kicking a walk-off 33-yard game winner and earned Big 12 Special Teams player of the week honors. He helped the Longhorns to a win in the 2019 Alamo Bowl and a #25 finish in the rankings. He was also an Honorable Mention as a kicker on the All-Big 12 team, led the conference in extra point attempts and makes and earned First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors. He was perfect for extra points on the season, tying the school's extra point percentage record for a season.

Dicker earned second-team All-Big 12 honors in 2020 as he again led the conference in extra point attempts and makes. When Ryan Bujcevski suffered a torn ACL against West Virginia, Dicker also took over punting duties. He again helped the Longhorns to a bowl win, in the 2020 Alamo Bowl, and a top 25 ranking (#19/#20) in the polls. In the Alamo Bowl he set the record for the longest field goal in Alamo Bowl history, kicking a 53-yarder that was also the 2nd longest field goal in a bowl game in school history. For the 3rd year in a row, he was the team's scoring leader and he again earned First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors.

In 2021 he continued to punt as Bujcevski recovered from his injury. Before the season started he was again placed on the Lou Groza Award watchlist. Against Texas Tech, he kicked 10 extra points, tied for 5th most in a game in Big 12 history and tied for 1st in school history for both extra points attempted and made in a game. He was named the Big 12 co-Special Teams player of the week after the Kansas game when he went 8 for 8 on extra points and had 2 punts for 90 yards. The next week he had 4 field goals against TCU, which tied for 5th for the most field goals in a single game in school history. The next week he kicked a career-long 78 yard punt, the 5th longest in school history. Against Oklahoma State, one week later, he averaged 51.7 ypp, the 7th best single-game punting average in school history, on 7 punts including the school's 6th longest punt ever of 77 yards. In November he was named a Ray Guy Award semifinalist for his punting as he led the nation in et punting average. At the end of the season he was named 1st Team All-Big 12 as a punter after averaging 46.8 ypp (3rd best season in school history behind Michael Dickson in 2016 and 2017), was honorable mention as Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year, honorable mention as a kicker, made the First Team Academic All-Big 12 team for the fourth consecutive year and was a Campbell Trophy Award semifinalist. Across the 2020-2021 season, he made 70 extra point attempts in a row and 12 field goals in a row - both were the 4th longest such streaks in school history at the time. He also connected on a career high 86.7% of field goal attempts - 4h best for a season in school history.

He finished his career as the highest scoring kicker in school history and 3rd on the all time scoring list with 386 points, behind Cedric Benson and Ricky Williams. In the final game of his career, he broke Phil Dawson's school record for the most field goals made (60) in a career and tied him for most field goal attempts (79). He also finished second in extra point attempts (210), second for extra points made (206) and fourth in field goal accuracy (75.9%). His 4 career field goals of longer than 50 yards tied him for 6th in school history.

On January 19, 2022, Dicker declared for the NFL draft. On February 5, 2022 he participated in the 2022 Senior Bowl.

Personal life

Dicker is a Christian. He is engaged to Annie Buerk. He was given the nickname "Dicker the Kicker" by his seventh grade science teacher.