Photo Credit: Aaron Bills/Michigan Football

Game On: Shea Patterson Ruled Eligible, New 2018 Season Outlook

Posted onAuthorGarrett Fishaw

There was some doubt as things started to draw out. He was originally supposed to be ruled eligible in March. But that didn’t happen. And then Ole Miss objected to the waiver request, causing some unnecessary drama. But after a bit of an uproar, that was backtracked and now, as originally expected, the NCAA has officially ruled redshirt sophomore QB Shea Patterson eligible for the 2018 season.

The first on the scene with the report was Chris Balas from The Wolverine, who dropped the news that Patterson was expected to be ruled eligible “as soon as (Friday)” ($).

Not too long after that, the likes of The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb, Author John U. Bacon, 247Sports’ Josh Henschke, and CBS Sports and Selfish Lovers’ Barrett Sallee all were hearing similar news from their sources on Patterson’s eventual eligibility ruling.

And, as expected, Shea Patterson was officially ruled eligible on Friday afternoon, putting even higher expectations on Jim Harbaugh’s fourth season at Michigan.

With Patterson now a full go for the fall, Michigan’s 2018 season outlook is completely different. Brandon Peters had his ups and downs in 2017 while Dylan McCaffrey and Joe Milton are nothing more than practice hype at this point in their college careers. The rest of Michigan’s roster is ready to compete for a National Championship. The biggest question mark was at the quarterback position. And it now just may be solved.

Patterson completed 64% of his passes in his 7 games played before tearing the PCL in his right knee against LSU. He threw for 17 touchdowns, 9 interceptions and ended up with a 151.5 QB Rating, finishing 4-6 in his time at Ole Miss. Not really the greatest stats in the world, but I wouldn’t judge him by his stats on the depleted Runnin’ Rebels.

The former five star, #1 quarterback recruit has shown signs of being exactly who recruiting services thought he would be. At Michigan, with the collection of receiver talent at the receiver position, with Donovan Peoples-Jones, Tarik Black, Grant Perry, Kekoa Crawford, Nico Collins and Oliver Martin, and the tight end position, with Zach Gentry, Sean McKeon, and Nick Eubanks, Patterson should have a big junior season. Add in the running game behind him with Karan Higdon and Chris Evans, and Don Brown’s ridiculously talented defense, the expectation should now be the Big Ten Championship and a birth in the College Football Playoff for the 2018 Michigan Wolverines football team.

Can Shea Patterson and Michigan live up to the upcoming hype for the 2018 season? Let us know in the comment section below!

Photo Credit: Aaron Bills/Michigan Football

Garrett Fishaw
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