Shea Patterson

Shea Christopher Patterson (born January 17, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Patterson grew up in Toledo, Ohio before moving to Brownsville, Texas for a few years and then to nearby Hidalgo to attend Hidalgo High School as a freshman in 2012.

In December of that year, he committed to the University of Arizona to play college football.

After his freshman year, his family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana after his father moved the family for a new job.

In Shreveport, he attended Calvary Baptist Academy, where he was a standout on the football team.

Patterson threw for 2,655 yards with 34 touchdowns as a sophomore and 2,428 passing yards, 38 touchdowns as a junior.

In July 2014, he decomitted from Arizona.

In February 2015, he committed to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss).

In 2015, Patterson transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for his senior year.

Patterson was regarded as a 5-star prospect by Scout, Rivals, and 247Sports, and a 4-star by ESPN.

He was the highest rated recruit at his position by all four recruiting services (as a pro-style quarterback on 247Sports and Scout, and a dual-threat quarterback by Rivals and ESPN).

He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels (2016–2017) and the Michigan Wolverines (2018–2019).

Patterson was considered among the top 5 high school class of 2016 football prospects in the entire country.

He earned the Pete Dawkins Trophy as a high school senior.

Patterson began his college football career at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) before transferring to the University of Michigan.

Among his collegiate highlights are the Ole Miss single-game passing yards record and the Michigan records for single-game (regulation) passing touchdowns, consecutive 300-yard passing games and consecutive 4-touchdown passing games.

His senior season passing yardage total was second in school history.

He was a two-time third-team All-Big Ten Conference selection.

Patterson was the 4th-highest rated recruit overall in the class of 2016 on the 247Sports Composite, which aggregates the ratings of the four recruiting services.

Patterson enrolled early at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and was tabbed as the second quarterback on the depth chart, along with second-year freshman Jason Pellerin, going into 2016 fall camp.

With Chad Kelly as the starting quarterback, Patterson was slated to sit out 2016 as a redshirt freshman.

He became the starting quarterback after Kelly tore his ACL, losing Patterson's redshirt season.

Patterson made his debut on November 12, 2016, leading the Rebels to a comeback victory over Texas A&M while completing 25 of 42 pass attempts for 338 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

His first career touchdown was a six-yard pass to wide receiver Damore'ea Stringfellow.

Later in the game, Patterson cut the Aggies' lead to 28–26 when he threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson with 5:17 remaining in the game.

The Rebels went ahead 39-yard field goal with only 37 seconds remaining, and the score would hold.

The following week, Patterson earned his second career start, against Vanderbilt, and completed 20 of 42 pass attempts for 222 yards and two touchdowns during the Rebels' 38–17 loss.

On November 27, 2016, Patterson completed 27 of 48 pass attempts for 320 passing yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions in a 55–20 loss to Mississippi State.

He finished his true freshman season completing 72 of 132 pass attempts for 880 passing yards, six touchdowns, and three interceptions in three starts and one victory.

Patterson was named the starter for Ole Miss heading into the 2017 season as a sophomore.

Before the season began, Ole Miss was mired in controversy due to an NCAA investigation that found numerous violations of organization rules, including a lack of institutional control.

In response, in February 2017, Ole Miss self-imposed a bowl ban for the 2017 season.

In another controversy, Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze resigned in July 2017 after it was reported that he made several calls to escort services using university phones.

Co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Matt Luke was named interim head coach.

In the first two games of the season, Shea garnered national attention by throwing for a combined 918 yards and 9 touchdown passes against South Alabama and UT Martin.

In his game against UT Martin, he set the Ole Miss school record for passing yards in a single game with 489 yards.

He was drafted in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft by the Texas Rangers and they retain his rights until 2024.

The Michigan Panthers drafted Patterson with the first pick in the 2022 USFL draft.

He has also played with the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (USFL).

He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2020.