Veronica Keller received big-time great news with a dollop of not-so-ideal news two weeks ago from her son, Ben Patterson.
The great news: Patterson, a receiver at Division II Texas-Permian Basin, agreed to terms to join the Jacksonville Jaguars as undrafted free agent.
Advertisement
The not-so-ideal news: The second day of Jaguars rookie camp on May 9 conflicts with Patterson’s graduation ceremony.
Patterson’s decision was easy.
“I’m going to be in Jacksonville,” he told me during a phone interview earlier this week.
Mom’s reaction?
“She was a little sad, but she said, ‘This is what you’ve worked so hard for,’” Patterson said.
Sometimes in this job, you back into a cool story. Exhibit A was earlier this week when I talked to Patterson’s college coach, Kris McCullough, to gather information on a player who faces ultra-long odds of making the Jaguars’ initial 53-man roster.
“What’s crazy is he would miss two practices a week for school reasons,” said McCullough, now the coach at Gardner-Webb, an FCS program in Boiling Springs, N.C.
Advertisement
Excuse me, what?
“He was constantly being pulled away,” McCullough said.
Patterson majored in petroleum engineering and last fall, his Reservoir Engineering 2 class ran from 3-4:15 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. UTPB practiced from 3-5 p.m. Academics won.
Talk about putting “student” in the term “student-athlete.”
Balancing school, football
Upon enrolling at UTPB in 2021, Patterson, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, declared mechanical engineering as his major. After one semester, he switched to petroleum engineering on the advice of his classmates and professors who told him that area had more earning potential.
Advertisement
Patterson began grinding away on his degree and had internships at Slater Controls and Quality Solutions before his junior and senior years.
Patterson’s post-football career goal is to become a production engineer. After a drilling engineer leads the process of drilling the well, a production engineer joins to lead extraction of the hydrocarbons — the compound of hydrogen and carbon that are used in fuels, lubricants and raw materials that produce plastics — out of the ground.
During his final two football seasons, Patterson would indeed miss two days of practice per week.
More from O’Halloran: 15 questions about the Jacksonville Jaguars following the NFL Draft
Advertisement
“On those days, I would go to class and any new plays we installed, my receivers coach would text them to me and I would make sure I’m ready to go for the run-through we have on Fridays,” he said.
Said McCullough: “He is so smart, he didn’t need a whole lot of practice reps. One of the smartest players I’ve coached. He was always a guy who did everything the right way.”
Patterson’s academic undertaking was unique and required time management and patience … kind of like his football career.
After a redshirt year, he appeared in only five games in 2022 (five catches). In this era of transfer-for-any-little-reason, he had to consider moving along, correct?
Advertisement
“I definitely thought about it,” he said. “But I was like, ‘Let me stick it out here and leave a legacy here and leave the place better.’ I just really trusted the process and I knew it would all pay off.”
The pay-off began in the first game of his redshirt sophomore season. During UTPB’s 96-0 win over Texas College (final yardage: 572-2), Patterson caught an 18-yard touchdown to start the scoring.
Funny thing about that play …
“It wasn’t the right route,” Patterson said with a laugh. “I just improvised. I was supposed to run a ‘Spot’ route and sit in the middle of the defense, but I turned it into an ‘Over’ route because the zone was just wide open. Thankfully, (quarterback) Kenny (Hrncir) just threw it to me. I got back to the sideline and Coach McCullough laughed and said, ‘I’m glad it worked out.’”
In his final season at Texas Permian Basin, Jaguars rookie receiver Ben Patterson caught five touchdown passes.
Making impression on Jaguars
From that point, Patterson showed consistency for UTPB with seasons of 31 catches-503 yards-six touchdowns, 30-527-5 and 32-678-5. He ended his career with 1,744 yards (second-most in school history) and 16 touchdowns (third most). And about that legacy, the Falcons had their first winning season in 2023 and reached the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time last year, not bad for a program that started playing in 2016.
Advertisement
The Falcons were third nationally in passing yards per game last year (330.1 per game) and Patterson ranked 11th in yards per catch (22.2).
“He was a guy you couldn’t stay with,” McCullough said. “Nickels in man to man struggled against him because if they didn’t get their hands on him, he would run straight by them.”
Said Patterson: “Whenever I went up against a linebacker or safety, I’m like, ‘I’m going to run past them. They can’t cover me.’”
Patterson wasn’t invited to a postseason all-star game or the scouting combine, but the Jaguars reached out multiple times, including receivers coach Edgar Bennett. At the draft’s completion, Patterson and his agent, Matt Mainiero, also heard from the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.
Advertisement
Patterson chose the Jaguars, instantly becoming the team’s tallest receiver at 6-foot-5. But he is also one of seven rookie receivers (two drafted and five undrafted) who have been acquired. Maybe two will make the initial 53-man roster.
Undrafted rookies face a tall climb, but times that five- or even 10-fold for a Division II undrafted rookie.
“The way he runs and his ability to get off the ball, he’s going to impress them,” McCullough said. “You’re an underdog as a Division II free agent, but he’s a guy who has the work ethic to be in the league. He just has to prove himself every day and do the extra stuff and he knows that.”
Being in Jacksonville on May 10 wearing a Jaguars helmet instead of Odessa and wearing a cap and gown was an easy decision for Patterson. And mom knows it, too.
Advertisement
“She understands I have to be in Jacksonville,” Patterson said.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM for segments every Tuesday (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night) and Thursday (1:15 p.m. in “XL Primetime”), a new two-hour show every Friday starting May 13 (“The Lead,” from 4-6 p.m.) and Wednesdays on X (3:20 p.m. on “Duval Rundown”).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars’ Ben Patterson picking NFL rookie camp over college graduation
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
