The prospect of having former Ole Miss quarterback lining up under center for Michigan football will be intriguing for Jim Harbaugh.
Michigan football landed a huge addition to the program by nabbing transferring Ole Miss sophomore quarterback Shea Patterson. Yet, Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh is put in a tough position for whenever Patterson becomes eligible to suit up in Ann Arbor.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Peters showed the most potential of any at that position for the Wolverines this year. However, like John O’Korn and Wilton Speight, Peters went down with an injury nearing the end of the regular season. Peters has a good chance to be Michigan’s starting quarterback in 2018.
If Peters performs well in 2018, it makes sense to keep him in the same spot the following season. Patterson is a tremendously talented quarterback, and a former highly-touted five-star commit to the Rebels.
But, Harbaugh is not the type of coach to just give into the hype and name him the starter immediately. Patterson is going to have to earn his way into that role.
Originally, Patterson was thrown into the fire in Oxford because of an injury to Chad Kelly during the 2016 season. Patterson displayed some admirable qualities facing a vaunted final stretch of SEC West opponents as a true freshman. Peters was put in a similar position this year with the Wolverines, against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Moreover, Patterson was able to get Ole Miss off to a great start among a ton of controversy and no postseason eligibility. There’s no questioning his motivation to succeed on the field. Patterson holds just as much control in Harbaugh’s decision for the starting quarterback as Peters does.
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More than likely, it will be the 2019 season when Patterson is able to play for the Wolverines. He’ll have to win his eligibility appeal during the off-season to be able to play as a true junior. The transfer from Ole Miss after his sophomore season is supposed to mean he has to redshirt for a year.