Committing to play football for the Florida Gators might seem like a no-brainer for life-long Gators fan Tyree Patterson. The Eustis receiver, who was offered a scholarship by UF on Friday, indicated that it’s not that simple.
“I’m not really used to this process,” Patterson said. “I’m still trying to take the process slow and see how it goes.”
Patterson is the nephew of former Eustis and UCF standout Joe Burnett, who played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Patterson has yet to receive a UCF offer.
The recruiting process for the 6-foot-2, 182-pound Patterson has started slowly for a couple of reasons. He didn’t even play football after deciding to concentrate on basketball after his seventh-grade year. He’s also stuck in tiny Eustis, a Lake County school that does not receive much recruiting traffic.
“Me and my dad sat down after my 10th-grade year’s basketball season and he said he thought I should focus more on what I want to do in college, what I love the most,” Patterson said. “I chose football over basketball.”
It’s no surprise Patterson is opening the eyes of recruiters. He’s had two big seasons of football since returning to the game. In 18 games he has had 85 catches for 1,692 yards and 20 touchdowns and averages five catches for nearly 100 yards and a touchdown per game.
“I had a pretty good year my first year playing football,” Patterson said. “Then my junior year, that was like by breakout year, showing people I’m that person.”
The Gators’ offer is Patterson’s fourth Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship offer — with North Texas, UMass and Liberty — but by far the biggest.
His main recruiter at UF has been receivers coach Keary “KC” Colbert and he also received a call from first-year head coach Billy Napier on Friday night.
Colbert informed Patterson of the offer.
“It was on FaceTime when he told me and I was just smilin’ the whole time,” Patterson said. “It was kinda shocking because that’s my first big, big offer … so yeah, I was a little shocked and happy at the same time.”
He was happy to get a call from Napier as well.
“It was pretty good. He was just saying how they all love my game and they got a lot of things coming for me,” Patterson said. “He was saying I remind him of one of the players [Calvin Ridley] he coached when he as at Alabama. He said I was just bigger than him and he can’t wait to have me down there [in Gainesville].
“He said of all the receivers he coached, he had 16 go to the NFL. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Eustis coach Frank Scott said Patterson has all the tools necessary,
“He’s only really played football for two years and it’s crazy how much he’s developed during that time,” Scott said. “He’s got a lot of upside and he’s going to do big things.”
This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Chris Hays covers high school football and college recruiting for the Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at [email protected].
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