College Football
Michigan QB transfer Shea Patterson is not your average two-sport athlete. He is, as far as college goes, a one-sport athlete. He has only played football in college, but this past week made some waves when he signed a baseball contract with the Texas Rangers. I suppose it’s always good to have a backup plan.
College Career
Patterson signed this offseason with Michigan, which would normally mean he would give up this year’s eligibility. However, he appealed to the NCAA and received immediate eligibility because of the way things were handled at Ole Miss, his former school. The Michigan QB transfer makes an already crowded quarterback room even fuller. He is competing this spring with sophomore Brandon Peters, true freshman Joe Milton and redshirt freshman Dylan McCaffrey for the starting job. Peters got the job last year after Wilton Speight was injured and John O’Korn couldn’t perform. Patterson, however, is expected to be the starting Wolverines quarterback this fall.
In 2016, after he had his redshirt burned by his former coach, Patterson appeared in 3 games for Ole Miss. In those 3 games he threw for 880 yards, including 6 touchdowns. He also threw 3 picks and rushed for an additional 169 yards. In 2017 he had his season cut short by a knee injury. Before he got injured, the sophomore threw for 2259 yards with 17 touchdowns while also throwing 9 interceptions. Although Patterson only appeared in 7 games in 2017, his numbers were still good.
Why His Rangers Signing is Odd
Patterson hasn’t played baseball competitively since his junior year of high school. That year he gave up baseball to focus on his football career. Clearly, the Rangers saw something in him that they liked, while Patterson had enough interest to sign. He still has 2 years of eligibility in football, so he has some time to decide where he wants to go.
Written by Susannah Schmidt
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