FIU Football: Antonio Patterson Adjusting To Position Switch At Safety

Kevin Barral | Mar 29, 2024

Nov 18, 2023; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; FIU Panthers helmet prior to the game against the / Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Now in the second week of spring practice, FIU head coach Mike MacIntyre has his squad in full pads and doing 11-on-11 drills. One player who has looked particularly comfortable through these first couple of weeks is running back-turned-safety Antonio Patterson.

Patterson, one of the first recruits that joined MacIntyre at FIU, was originally a safety at the prep level.

"I really felt comfortable playing safety in high school," Patterson told G5 Football Daily. "I was recruited to play running back, but my dream was always to play safety in college."

The redshirt sophomore saw action in nine games this past season where he ran for 33 yards and scored a touchdown. At the end of the day, with the amount of running backs in the room already and Lexington Joseph returning from injury, reps for Patterson would be limited, so going to safety was the best move in terms of seeing more action on the field.

"I like Antonio [Patterson] at safety," said Mike MacIntyre. "He's looked really good there. As we go into scrimmages, we've definitely moved him over there to be a first or second-team guy and want him to do that. As we go into the scrimmages and do all that, we'll see how he does and I think he'll do really well."

The now-former running back made himself known on the first day of practice, as he picked off one of the quarterbacks. "I was talking to coach Hickson, my old running back coach once I got it. It felt good to get that, but onto the next play," Patterson noted.

MacIntyre and Patterson go way back to their days in Tennessee where Patterson was recruited by MacIntyre when he was at Memphis, but when heading to FIU, Patterson decided to follow the coach that receruited him.

Patterson has a chance to really provide depth to a safety room that lost D'Verik Daniel, who is preparing for the NFL Draft. If Patterson can become a first or second team player like MacIntyre has hinted at, then the transition can go down as one of the biggest moves of the offseason for FIU.