In my opinion, Tim Patterson's commitment to UK was the biggest surprise of the entire class. More so than Brandon Gainer's commitment. I spoke to Gainer and knew the Cats were an option, but I thought he was headed to UNC because he didn't take an official to UK. However, with Patterson, all signs indicated he would be a Cardinal. First, his high school teammate, Stefan Robinson, was already committed to UL and his coach even felt they would play together. Second, you had the Charlie Strong factor. Tim had to be caught up in "getting their swag back". Third, there have been reports that Patterson would not qualify and "that' why Joker offered Huguenin".
I guess everyone, including myself overlooked the "Joker Factor". I personally saw Patterson at UK for a few games (never spoke to him). I knew there was interest and during the season and thought he would be a Cat. When it came down to signing day, I thought he would be a Cardinal (for the reasons above).
I'm glad Patterson is a Cat and I'm looking forward to watching him in UK Blue!
For the sake of discussion, I'll take another position. I believe Brandon Gainer's commitment is clearly the #1 surprise in the class, while Alex Smith's commitment runs a close second.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, Aaron doesn't consider Gainer a surprise because Aaron is the only one among us who had the foresight and insight to know it was coming. More than a month ago, Aaron predicted that Gainer would become a Cat. The rest of us thought Gainer was going to UNC.
Tim Patterson is not a surprise. Patterson always wanted to be a Cat. The surprise aspect of Patterson's case is that Joker is willing to go sign a prospect who probably won't qualify for fall enrollment. I understood Joker's prior statements to indicate he wouldn't try to do that this year. However, I think it's smart. Joker had already won a verbal from Jon Davis. Now he goes right into downtown Louisville and snatches Patterson out from under Charlie Strong's nose. Even if Patterson never plays a down in Lexington, it's a strong move from the standpoint of showing that Joker can outrecruit Strong in UL's own backyard. This makes a lot of the naysayers look ridiculous.
But as for Patterson himself, I frankly see a kid who (if ever eligible) will have to change positions (i.e., learn to play DE) and somehow manage to climb UK's depth chart competing against Taylor Wyndham, Collins Ukwu, Justin Henderson, Mike Douglas, Alvin Davis, Ferrington Huguenin, and possibly other members of the 2010 class. This is a tall order for a kid who hasn't played DE before. Patterson played MLB at Central HS, but there's no way he projects as a D-1 LB. It will be interesting to see if they can get him into school. If so, he has the length to fill out and compete somewhere.
Again, I never thought Patterson would make it to UK. The kid has ability and could contribute at UK. The best part of his recruitment is the "pipeline" connection for UK.
ReplyDeleteThings changed in Gainers recruitment at the last minute. That's why he ended up at UK. Overall it worked out for the Cats. It's probably good that Joker was friends with his HS Coach.