hello sir [Bryan Fuller]
Per his twitter:
— Shea Patterson (@SheaPatterson_1) December 11, 2017
Since he's a transfer in a hello post is sort of beside the point when we can look at his 12 games starting for Ole Miss; over the course of the offseason I'll break those down in passing UFRs, like I did for Jake Rudock a couple years back.
The high level view is this: Patterson is a former five star QB who moved into the starting lineup late in his true freshman season after Chad Kelly was injured. He started for the bowl-banned Rebels for nine games this year, whereupon an injury knocked him out.
He spearheaded S&P+'s #15 passing offense, averaging 7.6 YPC with 17 TDs and 9 interceptions and a 64% completion rate. I've already gone over four or five of his games from last year and those stats should be taken in context: Ole Miss's offensive line was prone to Michigan-like stunt busts, so their offense had a ton of screens in it. Patterson and backup Jordan Ta'amu's mobility helped the Rebels avoid a very bad sack rate. Even with large chunks of the offense built around avoiding sacks, Ole Miss was still 59th in that department.
That said, Patterson did not seem like a five-star guy on an initial viewing. The name that leapt immediately and repeatedly to mind was Tate Forcier. Patterson's got the same level of mobility and size; he's very much a MAKE PLAYS gunslinger; his accuracy left something to be desired.
Here's his 34/51, 346 yard, 6.8 YPC day against Auburn. This was a 44-23 loss against the #5 S&P+ defense in the country in which Ole Miss was down 35-3 halfway through the second quarter:
That's fairly representative. High ceiling; inconsistent with his throws and reads. For what it's worth, PFF rated Patterson the third-best QB in the SEC this year. If that's now Michigan's QB floor in 2018, woo hah.
Patterson believes he'll be eligible immediately, which would give him two more years of eligibility starting in 2018. If he is not he would still have two, but they would start in 2019. More details on that stuff can be found in an earlier post on Patterson.