What had long been considered just a rumor has gradually built up into reality. On Monday, former Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson has formally made his commitment to the University of Michigan for 2018.
— Shea Patterson (@SheaPatterson_1) December 11, 2017
The “Patterson to Michigan” rumors began earlier this month when it was reported that Patterson was seeking for schools following the turmoil down at Ole Miss. Michigan was believed to have been one of his schools of interest.
Patterson then reportedly made plans to visit the Wolverines, to which he did as recent as this past weekend, and the likelihood of him formally committing to Michigan next season began to climb. In fact, it had been rumored for roughly a week before his formal announcement today, that it was already a ‘done deal’ for the former 5-star recruit.
Patterson was regarded as the No. 1 quarterback from the Class of 2016. Just about everyone and their mother in the country was vying for his services, including Michigan.
Patterson will be a junior in 2018. Normally according to transfer rules, players in his situation would have to sit out a year before being eligible to play. However, there is an ongoing lawsuit on getting the former Ole Miss players to be eligible for play immediately, as part of the fallout from the scandals surrounding the football program in Oxford.
This past weekend, Patterson was in Ann Arbor along with two of his Ole Miss teammates — safety Deontay Anderson and receiver Van Jefferson — taking in the Michigan men’s basketball game against UCLA. Anderson and Jefferson are two more of now a recently reported seven former Rebels players that are interested in transferring to Michigan.
Michigan and their head coach Jim Harbaugh have received some flak in this ongoing story, more specifically Harbaugh, who made an effort to fly down to Oxford and meet Anderson… and have breakfast at an IHOP, naturally.
