Shea Patterson has been everything Michigan fans hoped he’d be when he transferred in from Mississippi, and he’s even better than advertised in some respects.
He ‘gets’ Michigan, having grown up in Toledo to Big House bedtime stories from his father. He’s been damn near perfect when he has a clean pocket, still very good when not (having completed 71 percent of his passes through three games) and has his mind on one thing …
Winning a championship for U-M.
He took the Notre Dame loss hard, though it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t get the protection needed to win in that environment, something anyone who watched the game would realize, but the first thing he said to the radio crew in the postgame interview was about a mistake he made.
“I should never have taken that sack in the first half,” Patterson lamented, shaking his head. “I can’t do that.”
He was talking about a third down play on which a defender came through untouched and sacked him. Rather than blame anybody, however, he pointed the finger at himself. He did it again Tuesday night in talking about an interception he threw in the first quarter on which junior tight end Sean McKeon should have come back for the ball.
“Waited a little bit too long to throw that one,” he said. “A drop back passer is going to throw an interception every once in a while.”
He knew he got away with one earlier in the game, too, but it went through the defender’s hands. He credited redshirt frosh Oliver Martin for staying with the deflection and making the play.
Those are all reasons his teammates have embraced him — he’s a leader, and it shows. He and sophomore fullback Ben Mason took turns giving each other a hard time from the concourse above the Schembechler Hall museum while they did interviews Tuesday.
“Shea … you just saw [his personality],” Mason said when asked of his quarterback. “Everyone on the team likes him.”
And he likes them. They embraced him immediately, he said, and while the quarterbacks were somewhat “standoff-ish” both ways when he arrived, that group has jelled, too.
There’s still work to do, but the passing game especially has shown signs of life in the last two weeks.
“As a whole offense we’ve come together and learned how to trust in each other and have faith in each other,” Patterson said. “Just play together.
“One thing I’ve done is just manage a little bit better, not make too much out of nothing. I just know [we have] a good defensive unit and special teams to put us in special teams. Limit the turnovers and take care of the football.”
He continues to learn. He called head coach Jim Harbaugh the best coach he’s ever played for, noting he’s learning every single day from him and the coaching staff.
“He’s been around the game of football for so many years. Any type of knowledge, any type of brain-picking I can do, it’s what I do every single day,” Patterson said. ”There’s nothing left unsaid. “If you make a mistake, he’s going to come talk to you, not necessarily yell at you. He’ll tell you, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing. This is what I need you to do.’
“Your effort and your love of the game, he really brings it out of you because you can see it in him how much he enjoys being around us and coming to practice every day and working and really getting better every day … there’s this certain feeling you get with coach Harbaugh. You just want to play for him; you want to win for him. You want to win for the program because you can tell it means a lot to him.”
Which is why he’s asking for patience. The offense isn’t a well-oiled machine yet, but Patterson insists he won’t rest until it is … or at least do his part to try.
“I understand the tradition and expectations that surround this program,” Patterson said. “That’s what it is, the University of Michigan. I’m proud to be part of the team. When I say that, understand that no one’s expectations are bigger than our own here in this football office. We’re just going to continue to get better every single week.”
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.
• Like us on Facebook
