LOOK: Shea Patterson outduels former Ohio State QB in Spring League debut

The former Michigan football QB outdueled former Buckeyes QB J.T. Barrett in their debut in The Spring League.

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Sometimes, things don’t work out as you hope or expect, so you make the best of an unforeseen situation.

Such is the case for former Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson, a former five-star recruit and top-rated QB in the 2016 class. Patterson could have left Ann Arbor after his junior year and been a potential late-NFL draft pick, but he came back for his senior year. And on the very first play from scrimmage in 2019, he sustained an injury, which inhibited his ability until late in the year.

As a result, he went undrafted, but was picked up by Kansas City as a free agent a week after the 2020 NFL draft.

Cut in the summer, Patterson looked for new options. That’s how he ended up leading the Blues in The Spring League (TSL), a professional developmental start-up.

TSL has been around for a few years, but this was the first year where it finally found itself on the field and in the limelight. Patterson joins former notable college players such as J.T. Barrett of Ohio State, Zach Mettenberger of LSU, Alex Hornibrook of Wisconsin and a fellow former Wolverine in cornerback Channing Stribling in the league’s debut season.

And on Tuesday, Patterson took the field at the Alamodome in San Antonio and balled out.

Named the player of the game in a 19-0 Blues win over the Alphas — a team led by the aforementioned J.T. Barrett, Patterson threw three touchdown passes, with two going to former Florida Atlantic wideout Jovon Durante.

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Patterson showed off some of his patented playmaking ability keeping a play alive with his legs on his third TD toss:

As far as his demeanor in the postgame, it was typical Shea Patterson, as he humbly deferred all of the praise thrown his way, instead praising those around him.

“Defense played lights out,” Patterson said. “It always helps when it gets three-and-outs constantly and special teams plays a good game. It made it easy on our offense, the run game. It was tremendous and it opened up the pass game. It was cool to see the receivers go out there and make plays today.”

He’ll take the field again next Wednesday in a nationally televised contest against the Aviators at 5 p.m. EST on Fox Sports 1.

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