Shea Patterson discusses eye-gouging claims: 'I've never been in a pile as violent as that one'
Shea Patterson has now backed up the comments made by Michigan OL John Runyan, claiming Penn State players gouged his eyes during a QB sneak in Happy Valley.
The incident occurred during Patterson’s fourth-quarter touchdown that came from one yard out. Runyan initially claimed Patterson had his eyes gouged during his Tuesday comments, but Runyan also admitted he wasn’t a part of that scrum.
RELATED: Michigan OL Jon Runyan claims Penn State players tried to gouge Shea Patterson’s eyes during scrum
Later on Tuesday evening, Patterson himself addressed the claims. Patterson said he did take one particularly painful eye gouge, labeling that particular scrum one of the most violent he’s ever been a part of:
“I’ve never been in a pile as violent as that one. Got the touchdown, but that wasn’t fun,” said Patterson. “Dude had his index finger in my eye – my whole eye socket – for like 10 seconds. That wasn’t good.”
When asked if anything had happened earlier in the game, Patterson said no. He said the Nittany Lions were a “well-coached team” and that Happy Vally was a “great environment.”
Here’s the video of Patterson’s comments from Angelique Chengelis with the Detroit News:
Shea Patterson on the “violent” scrum — eye gouging — on his sneak at Penn State pic.twitter.com/KZeaM9p76i
— angelique (@chengelis) October 22, 2019
Patterson didn’t have any doubts as to whether or not the incident was on purpose:
Patterson on eye gouging: "I was trying to reach the ball across the plane, and I know for a good while I was screaming for my life. I wasn’t too happy about that." Asked if on purpose….he paused: "Uh, yeah."
— angelique (@chengelis) October 23, 2019