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Shea Patterson opens up about leaving Ole Miss
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Leaving Ole Miss appeared to be an easy choice for star quarterback Shea Patterson. With NCAA sanctions looming in Oxford following the Hugh Freeze saga, escaping the situation without penalty seemed like a no-brainer for someone of Patterson’s caliber.
The choice to leave the Rebels, and a place Patterson considers his home, was anything but easy, though.
In a recent story by Bleacher Report’s Matt Hayes, the former 5-star quarterback opened up about his decision to leave Oxford and find another home for the remainder of his college football career.
From Hayes’ story:
“Even if I weren’t a football player, I would’ve chosen Ole Miss,” Patterson says. “I love that place.”
He is finally opening up about his acrimonious exit from Mississippi, talking at length for the first time about how it went down at the place he still calls home and how he found his way to Michigan because he just wanted normalcy—and a chance to play for a championship.
He didn’t want to leave Ole Miss, where his brother, Sean, remains on staff and where his closest friends still play—and where his life, he says, still resides. But so, too, does the pain and drama of the last two years.
“It was like breaking up with a girlfriend you really love,” Patterson says. “It was brutal.”
Though leaving Ole Miss was much tougher than expected, Patterson found a new home in Ann Arbor, a place where expectations are sky-high thanks to his arrival.
Some think Michigan can win the B1G and even compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff in 2018. Those are some lofty goals to reach, even for someone as talented as Patterson.
You can read the full story on Patterson, his exit from Ole Miss and his new home in Ann Arbor here.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB