The Wolverine

February 2020*

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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FEBRUARY 2020 THE WOLVERINE 23 MVP SENIOR SHEA PATTERSON Not only was Patterson the MVP of his po- sition, he was named the team MVP after throw- ing for 3,061 yards to become just the third player in school history to eclipse the 3,000-yard mark. His total was second only to John Navarre's 3,331 in 2003, and he got there by going on a nice run to end the season, finishing the regular season with a trio of 300-yard games (a Michigan career-high 384 in a 44-10 win over Michigan State, 366 at Indiana in a 39-14 victory and even 305 in a 56-27 loss to Ohio State). Patterson started clicking in the second half of the Penn State game, finishing with 276 yards on the road in nearly leading U-M back from a 21-0 deficit in a 28-21 defeat. He won back-to-back Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors for his perfor- mances against Michigan State and Indiana, and was a third-team All-Big Ten selection after starting all 13 games for the second straight year. OVERALL GRADE Patterson had his ups and downs in the 2019 season, but it wasn't all on him. He completed only 56.2 percent of his passes, but his receiv- ers dropped a number of balls — five at Penn State and seven at home against Ohio State alone. There were a number of plays left on the field in offensive coordinator Josh Gattis' first year as coordina- tor — but they were there to be made, especially in the second part of the season. Patterson set the bar with a junior season in which he threw for only 2,600 yards but proved to be an upgrade over the previous few years with his ability to keep plays alive and hit receivers in stride. He was inconsistent this year — as a result, the yards after catch probably weren't what they should have been — and he put the ball on the ground too often early in the fall, fumbling a number of times. He rebounded to have a good, not great, season in his last in the maize and blue. NUMBERS TO KNOW After throwing for 3,061 yards and 23 touchdowns this year, Patterson became the first U-M signal-caller in school history to record two sepa- rate seasons of at least 22 scoring tosses and 2,600 passing yards (threw for 2,600 yards and 22 scores in 2018). Prior to 2018, Chad Henne in 2004 (25 touchdowns and 2,743 yards) and John Navarre in 2003 (24 scores and 3,331 yards) had been the only Michigan quarterbacks to ever register 2,600-yard, 22-touchdown sea- sons, though neither of them ever accomplished the feat twice. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Quarterbacks status Of schOlarship players GRADUATED: Shea Patterson ELIGIBILITY REMAINING (YEARS): Dylan McCaffrey (2) Joe Milton (3) Cade McNamara (4) B 2020 PLAYER TO WATCH DYLAN McCAFFREY Redshirt sophomore Joe Milton, too, will be one to watch in 2020. He's extremely hungry and will likely at least give McCaffrey a run for his money. But this appears to be McCaffrey's job to lose. Though he's only thrown 35 career passes, the redshirt junior to be has exhibited great leadership, is a very good runner and puts in the time in the film room. His op- portunity to battle for more time got sidetracked by a concussion suffered at Wisconsin, but he's back to 100 percent and anxious to prove he can be a great Big Ten quarterback. Shea Patterson PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL

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