Pat Patterson, the 6-foot-2, 206-pound four-star wide receiver from Noxubee County High School in Macon, Miss., has scholarship offers from Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas.
"I want to play for a school with good tradition and where they care about football," Patterson said.
His first scholarship offer came from Mississippi State and the Bulldogs are still recruiting him the hardest. "They send me a lot of mail and are always inviting me to their campus for camps and stuff," he said.
"Mississippi State is only like 30 minutes away, which is nice, but it don't matter if I stay close or not," Patterson said. "I really like the coaches there and feel real comfortable with them. I think that coach Sylvester Croom is gonna turn it around."
Patterson says he plans to attend the Bulldogs camp this summer and will also likely go to camps at Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU. In fact, Patterson says the Tigers are his top choice now, leading slightly over Mississippi State, Auburn, Ole Miss and Southern Miss.
"I really like the way that LSU competes," he said. "They throw the ball and run it and are a balanced team. Plus, they are one of the best teams in the country every year and have some of the best coaches too."
Another team that Patterson says competes very well is Auburn. "They never quit and play hard," he said. "They seem to have great athletes that go there.
"I really like Southern Miss too," Patterson said. "They said they are gonna run the spread next year and that they are going to be throwing the ball a lot more next year.
"They said they like that I'm a big wide receiver and think that I'd be able to play early there," he said.
Patterson finished his junior season with 72 receptions for 1,418 yards and 18 touchdowns. His team was 12-3 and made it to the 4A state championship game.
"I can get separation from the defender and run good routes. I'd still like to run even smoother routes," Patterson said. "I just want to improve my movement all around. But I just go get the ball. It doesn't matter if it's thrown my way or not - I can track it down."
He benches 295-pounds and squats 445. Patterson doesn't know his vertical jump.
Patterson reports a 3.0 core GPA and a 16 ACT, which he is retaking in October.