Kornacki: Patterson Triggers U-M Offense with Versatile Skills, Leadership
11/15/2018 12:45:00 PM | Football, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Shea Patterson knows what buttons to push, and the fact that opponents must respect his versatile skills makes the University of Michigan quarterback and his offense so very tough to stop.
He has deep-threat receivers he can hit on a dime, a 1,000-yard rusher with whom he's developed an uncanny play fake, tight ends who trust him enough to go up over the middle for balls, and a bowling ball of a fullback whom defenders must commit to in short-yardage situations.
"It's a much easier offense to run when you have incredible players around you, a great offensive line, and an incredible defense and great special teams to give you field position time after time after time," said Patterson. "I'm as comfortable as I've ever been. We've all grown since we began this season.
"The one thing that kind of looks confusing to people outside the team is running the same things with a bunch of different looks and formations. That's why we've been so successful -- we can run a lot of different plays out of the same looks. And each skill player on the field's skills have to be accounted for. We keep people honest and don't allow the defense to have their way with us."
But make no mistake about it. Their potency begins with and is most dependent upon Patterson, who puts it all in motion and then steers it into the end zone.
His ball-handling is as deft as an NBA point guard's. He was asked about the source of his sleight-of-hand ability.
"It started when I was a little kid, fifth grade, the first time I ever ran a read option with my dad in Pop Warner," said Patterson. "Yeah, ever since then, it just came natural to me."
Patterson was into the read option at an age when most boys read comic books.
And now the guys he's handing off to most in third-down situations are Karan Higdon, who has 1,005 yards rushing in nine games, and bruising fullback Ben Mason, who has six rushing touchdowns.
"Ben's more downhill and an up-pace guy," said Patterson. "With Ben, it was just repetition in practice. He just keeps getting it, keeps getting it, and by the time game time rolls around, we'll be ready.
"With Karan, the way we've played all year has just been natural for both of us. Just the way he can take it and explode through a gap, and take off -- it makes them respect you. And when we call something where I have the opportunity to do it, I take off."
The bread-and-butter play with Mason involves the fullback executing the play fake to perfection, pulling defenders with him by diving low through a hole without the ball. Patterson has gone free around the corner several times on that one for first downs. Higdon and Patterson have shared the ball to the very last instant on some goal-line plays before Patterson decides which of them will face the least resistance to the end zone.
He maintains poise at those crucial instants when plays succeed or fail.
"The more you study, the more you play the game, you understand it with experience," said Patterson, "and you make the game not so hard. It's not as difficult as everyone thinks as long as you are doing the right things to prepare."
The junior with the lively arm and determined legs has thrown for 1,927 yards, 17 touchdowns and three interceptions for a 9-1 team that is perfect in seven Big Ten Conference games headed into the home finale Saturday (Nov. 17) with Indiana. He has thrown only one interception in conference games -- it was on a tipped pass -- and has 128 consecutive attempts without a pickoff.
"He makes really good decisions when he throws the ball," said Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh. "He throws really accurate balls. He sees the field really well. But from the first game he played here, that was really evident with him. He doesn't throw a lot of balls that could've got intercepted."
Patterson said: "It's just being disciplined and taking what the defense gives us. Something huge is the field position we get each and every game."
He ranks 16th nationally with a 67-percent completion rate and 14th in pass efficiency with a 160.3 rating that's No. 2 among Big Ten quarterbacks.
Tight end Zach Gentry was asked about his quarterback's accuracy.
"A lot of it just comes down to trust," Gentry said. "Shea has a lot of trust in us. If a team can convert third downs as successfully as we can (.504 rate, fourth nationally), we would take that every week. A lot of things go into it, but Shea just threw a really nice ball."
Gentry was referring to a pass on the opening drive of the third quarter at Rutgers. Patterson showed poise under a heavy rush on third-and-nine to put the ball up where only the 6-foot-8 Gentry could catch it in one-on-one coverage for 21 yards down the middle.
Patterson doesn't provide opponents any indication of where he's going with the deep ball. Gentry and wide receivers Donovan Peoples-Jones and Nico Collins each have between 26 and 30 receptions for between 392 and 447 yards.
The quarterback's favorite play is the 79-yard touchdown pass to Peoples-Jones at Michigan State.
"That was the most exhilarating," said Patterson. "The game was tied, 7-7, and we got the right coverage, Donovan beat his man, and it was just me putting the ball up there.
"Running down that sideline, and the Michigan State student section was there, just silent. That was a fun moment."
Patterson has a knack for delivering in the clutch.
"On plays when I've got to try to make something happen," he said, "those have been indescribable feelings where you have an adrenaline rush. When you look back, I think, 'What did I do?' I don't even remember what I did. So, it's just kind of a natural thing. That's why I play the game. I love getting that feeling."
Patterson throws high-velocity out-cut routes, displays deft touch on fade routes, and has superb timing on deep post routes. He throws across his body, running left, with accuracy few possess.
How did he develop into an elite passer?
"I think it was the coaching staff here," said Patterson. "I'm with Coach Pep (Hamilton) every day, and he's developed a lot of guys like Andrew Luck and Jay Cutler (in the NFL). The eyes are the biggest thing he's taught me. He has a quote written up on his play board: 'If you see a lot, you'll see a little. If you see a little, you'll see everything.'"
It's about pinpoint focus.
"If your eyes are in the right place and where they need to be in certain types of coverages, it makes things slower and easier for you," said Patterson.
"I've gotten faster and I've gotten bigger (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) here, but not that much faster and that much bigger. But the mental side continues to grow, and that's what makes me improve each week. [Hamilton] helps me understand the game more, understand the defense more -- identifying coverages and just knowing where your eyes should be, and where they shouldn't be."
Patterson is a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award -- both going to the nation's top quarterback. He's also a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award for the national player of the year.
What does that recognition mean to him?
"I think all of that is a reflection of the opportunity I was given here," said Patterson. "Coach Harbaugh, Coach Pep, just all these guys at this university just believing in me, and me just doing my job. I come out every single day of practice and work my [butt] off and this team works their [butts] off, too.
"With all those awards, I think everybody understands that our No. 1 goal is the national championship and has the same mindset and attacks that every single day."
Harbaugh was an All-America quarterback at Michigan and went on to play 14 seasons in the NFL. What has he helped Patterson with most?
"I think just being natural back there and not thinking too much," said Patterson, "and making the game easier than it is. And I think, just with the game plan that we put in every single week and the repetition that we get in practice like no other. We run the same plays over and over and over until we get it down to a T in every single situation."
Harbaugh and Patterson have clicked in a special way.
"His love and passion for the game is contagious," said Patterson. "Not only does it spread to me, it spreads to the whole team. I'm just proud to be a quarterback on his team. I love the game and everything that comes with it, and so does he. You can see it. My knowledge of the game has come a long way since I got here."
Harbaugh said his primary work with Patterson has been "the programming of reads and progressions" because each system a quarterback enters is different and requires familiarity. Patterson transferred from Ole Miss in January, wasn't sure he was going to get immediate eligibility until the NCAA granted it in April, and has been a quick study, digesting a complicated and voluminous playbook.
Indiana coach Tom Allen, once an assistant at Ole Miss, has been familiar with Patterson since he was a phenom at Calvary Baptist High in Shreveport, Louisiana, throwing for 5,083 yards and 72 touchdowns as a sophomore and junior to lead it to consecutive state championships.
"I think Shea Patterson's special," Allen told reporters this week. "He's an extremely gifted passer but also has great escapability. And they'll use him in the run game at times, and it's effective when they do.
"He's one of those unique guys that he could be moving to his left, his right, it really doesn't matter. He can contort his body and make the throws he has to make, and he's accurate when he does that. That's what makes me so, you know, nervous as a DC (defensive coordinator), and to try to defend him because there's always separation that's created when a guy starts scrambling. It's almost impossible not to have that."
Patterson went from Toledo, where he grew up a Wolverines fan with his father, Sean, telling him bedtime stories about "Shea Man" leading the Maize and Blue to victory, and went on to play in Shreveport before transferring to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and leading it to its first undefeated season.
It was in Bradenton, where he was the five-star quarterback of a powerhouse team that included current Wolverines center Cesar Ruiz, that Patterson got a tattoo on the inside of his right throwing forearm.
He pulled up the sleeve of his sweatshirt to read it aloud: "The Godly are as bold as lions."
Patterson added, "It's from a verse in Proverbs (28:1), in typewriter (font), and I got it when I was 18 years old. It's kind of nerve-wracking when you first get it, but once that needle touches the skin there's no going back. I like it, though.
"Whenever you feel you are on a big-time stage or big-time situation, I pray to God and talk to him every single morning. So, what do you have to be nervous about? And you know you've put in the work."
Patterson has faith in himself, his teammates and his coaches, and they've thrived on a trust that ties them all together. It was mentioned that it's been a pretty good season for "Shea Man" and his No. 4-ranked team.
He leaned back in a chair at Schembechler Hall, a smile creasing his face, and said, "Yes! Yes, it has."
• Patterson Among Five Finalists for Unitas Golden Arm Award (11/15/2018)
