Former Ole Miss quarterback and current inbound Michigan transfer Shea Patterson recently explained his decision to leave.
Patterson told The Toledo Blade the following:
I’m really not one to jump ship on anything. But I’m really big on setting goals and achieving them. I did that throughout high school. One of the main goals was to win a national championship. At Ole Miss, I didn’t have an opportunity to do that. Things didn’t shake out the way I planned — coach [Hugh Freeze] got fired, the two-year bowl ban. I couldn’t look back on it after college and say I never got an opportunity to play for something like that.
People freak out all the time when players transfer in college sports, especially when it’s a star player. Fans go wild. They feel betrayed, hurt and a variety of other different emotions. They fail to recognize that players have different goals and expectations for their careers.
Patterson wants a championship, and he was never going to get that with Ole Miss. On the other hand, Michigan could actually compete for one over the course of the next two seasons. Their biggest weakness over the past few seasons is bad to average quarterback play. Patterson should fix that problem immediately. He can make plays with his feet, sling the ball down field and make plays very few quarterbacks ever could in college.
As a Wisconsin guy, I’m not pleased with Patterson at Michigan, but I won’t worry until the Wolverines beat my guys. One thing is for sure, and that is the fact the former Ole Miss quarterback in the Big Ten will be a bunch of fun to watch.