Does Matt Patchan Have U-M Interest?

When you’re 6-feet-7, it’s not really difficult to stand out. However, when you’re 6-7, 265 pounds and run a sub-4.7 second 40 yard dash and a sub-4.5 sec. shuttle, you are just asking for attention … like 60+ offers worth of attention. Luckily, Florida lineman Matt Patchan knows how to handle it.

Seffner Armwood Matt Patchan had outstanding stats at the Miami Scout.com Combine: a 4.69 40, a 4.61 shuttle, and an amazing 7.13 sec. 3-cone shuttle. He also had a 32.1 inch vertical jump. At January’s Army Combine he ‘only’ ran a 4.81 40, but recorded an amazing 4.47 shuttle and had 25 bench press reps. GoBlueWolverine's scouting report on him at the Army Combine -- agility!

For his efforts Matt has … over 60 scholarship offers, including from Michigan. Over the winter and spring he made visits to some of the close schools to him: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Miami, Florida State and Central Florida.

Patchan plays on both offensively at left tackle, and defensively at defensive end. Matt, nicknamed “little Matt” is the son of former University of Miami and NFL player Matt Patchan Sr. (“big Matt”). Although his father did play for Miami, Matt (the little one) would like to treat his own path and play wherever he feels most comfortable at both on and off the field.

Matt is very mature and vocal. He’d also like to have the opportunity to play both on the offensive and the defensive line in college. He would like to start at the OT position first and work from there. When describing his game, Matt impressively said to GoBlueWolverine, “One word – Effort. I will give more effort than anyone both on and off the field. This allows me to compete with anybody.” When asked about what he would like to improve upon as a player, Matt unhesitatingly said, “Everything! For me to be the best player [I can be], I can’t stay at the same level or part of my game. I have to constantly work on improving.”

Matt continued by describing some of the traits that he admired in his role models. “I really loved Reggie White. I mean, he had freakish athleticism, he dominated on the inside and he was a monster on the edge. He was very versatile and I really like that and I try to also be very versatile like that. I also really like Joe Thomas in the sense that he has great mental toughness. He accomplished so much academically while at Wisconsin and still managed to earn a #3 pick overall in the first round of this year’s draft. He did all that and he remained incredibly humble.”

Typically, it is extremely challenging to recruit a kid from the south, especially Florida, but Matt says that he’s not worried about all that. Matt was born in Pittsburgh and lived there for ten years before moving. Matt will be visiting a number of schools this summer and when asked if Michigan is one of the schools on that list of places, he said, “Yeah. I’d love to get up to Michigan to see the school and see what they have to offer.”

Have you had any contact with Michigan?

“Yeah. Actually, Coach Campbell just came by my school to visit me.”

So … are you really interested in Michigan?

“Yes, they are one of the leaders in the Big 10 every year, but they the last few they haven’t managed to get by their rival.”

Hey!! Don’t go there!

(Laughs)

“They have a great history and one of the largest stadiums in the country. Also, a lot of the players that graduated have returned to help out and just be involved and it just shows how close they all are. They just have a great tradition and play in a great rivalry. Actually, the first game my dad ever traveled to was at Michigan, so that was a really memorable experience for him.”

GoBlueWolverine will keep you posted on more of Matt Patchan’s recruitment throughout the year.