PARIS — Shea Patterson, the dynamic, acclaimed former Mississippi quarterback, is expected to be granted a waiver by the NCAA and be eligible for the 2018 season.
Sources told The Blade it’s “a formality,” which would end an angst-filled, months-long waiting game for Patterson and Michigan. A final decision could be announced by the NCAA as soon as Friday.
The appeals process has featured Patterson’s former school attempting to deny his request and his attorney, Tom Mars, lobbing verbal haymakers at Mississippi.
Mars had no comment when reached by phone Thursday. Patterson arrives in Paris on Friday with coaches and teammates for Michigan’s week-long team adventure.
The Toledo-born quarterback’s appeal for eligibility following his decision to transfer in December contended Ole Miss committed egregious behavior in 2016 during his recruitment and subsequent signing.
The decision might end Michigan’s quarterback competition prematurely. Patterson was permitted to participate in spring practice, receiving high marks from coaches and teammates. He is competing against sophomore Brandon Peters, who started four games last season, as well as redshirt freshman Dylan McCaffrey and true freshman Joe Milton.
“He’s a playmaker,” quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton said when asked about Patterson. “Everybody gets excited when he’s out there. And if he makes a special play, you can feel the energy throughout our team. You can just feel it, the positive energy.”
VIDEO: Pep Hamilton on Michigan’s quarterbacks, Shea Patterson
In two seasons at Ole Miss, Patterson played 10 games, completing 60.7 percent of his passes for 3,139 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in October, which ended his season. Patterson was 100 percent by January.
In his request to the NCAA, Patterson contended during his recruitment he was lied to and misled by former Rebels coach Hugh Freeze and members of the football staff and athletic department regarding the severity of NCAA violations committed by the school.
According to Patterson and other players, Freeze and athletic director Ross Bjork deceived the then-recruits in January, 2016, by minimizing the extent of the investigation that implicated the football program via an elaborate misinformation campaign. Phone records, emails, and Twitter direct messages outline the deception of Bjork and Freeze toward the media, recruits, and their families. They continually said the violations were committed by the women’s basketball and track programs and any football violations occurred under previous coach Houston Nutt.
“If these student-athletes and parents had known the truth, there’s not a single one of them that would have signed with Ole Miss,” Mars said.
Of the 13 allegations including academic misconduct and impermissible benefits related to the football program, only two were committed when Nutt was the head coach, leading to a lawsuit, settlement, and apology by the school to Nutt, who was represented by Mars. In the course of the lawsuit, Mars discovered Freeze called an escort service, which led to Freeze’s resignation in summer 2017.
Ole Miss self-imposed a bowl ban last seaason before the NCAA delivered significant sanctions in December. In its final report, the NCAA said the school lacked institutional control and fostered an unconstrained culture of booster involvement in football recruiting.
The Rebels cannot play in the postseason in 2018, they received three years of probation, and the program lost 11 scholarships over four years. Two assistant coaches were given show-cause penalties, leading to the transfers of a group of players including Patterson.
The expectations of Michigan’s upcoming season immediately would be heightened. Patterson’s pedigree changes the landscape of the Big Ten East Division and carries significant national implications.
“They’re a relatively young team with a lot coming back next year, a lot of high hopes for a great season,” Patterson told The Blade in December. “I thought if I was added to that mix it would be very fun to play for a team like that.”
If he’s named the starting quarterback, Patterson — who was a five-star recruit coming out of high school in Florida, where he moved after growing up in Toledo -— will have to navigate one of the nation’s most grueling schedules. Michigan opens the season with a night game at Notre Dame. The Wolverines also travel to Michigan State and Ohio State, with home dates against Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Penn State.
It’s a worry for another day in Ann Arbor, where Shea Mania is about to begin in earnest.
“It feels awesome,” Patterson said of the adoration. “It’s definitely humbling, especially from a great university like Michigan with all the success they've had. When you hear the hype around your name, it just drives you to work that much harder.”
Contact Kyle Rowland at: krowland@theblade.com, 419-724-6110, or on Twitter @KyleRowland.
First Published April 26, 2018, 11:04 p.m.
