Notre Dame Center Jarrett Patterson Ready For A Breakout Season

Year two at center should result in a national breakout for Notre Dame junior center Jarrett Patterson

Late in the 2018 recruiting class cycle, Notre Dame lost out on a talented five-star offensive tackle that ultimately signed with Ohio State. Also late in the 2018 recruiting cycle the Irish were able to get involved late with a West Coast player that was underrated, and ultimately he signed with Notre Dame.

That move has worked out quite well so far for the Fighting Irish.

Fast forward three seasons and the former five-star that Notre Dame missed out on is a backup for the Buckeyes (Nick Petit-Frere), while the underrated three-star player that Notre Dame signed, Jarrett Patterson, heads into his second season in the starting lineup.

Beyond that, Patterson enters the season with expectations that he could emerge as one of the nation’s best centers, despite him having only played the position for one season. Lindy’s Sports ranks Patterson as the nation’s eighth best center heading into the 2020 campaign.

Notre Dame needs its interior to improve this season, and Patterson is a key ingredient to making that happen.

SECOND SEASON GAINS

The expectation is always that a player will make gains going into his second season, but the possibility for Patterson making an even bigger leap than normal is higher than normal. The reason is not only is Patterson a year older, a year stronger and a year more experienced, he’s also going into just his second season as a center.

Patterson didn’t move to center until the spring prior to the 2019 season, and he picked snapping up pretty quickly. I was impressed with how consistent his snaps were for a first-year center, but there were still areas where it was obvious he was still a first-year center. Snapping and stepping with power isn’t a natural thing, and it takes time for players to master that, and he needed more time.

With Patterson now going into his second season of trying to perfect this craft we should see him play with far greater comfort, which will be important.

PASS BLOCKING IS STRENGTH FOR PATTERSON

Patterson came to Notre Dame as an athletic left tackle, so it should come as no surprise that he was an outstanding pass blocker as a first-year starter at center. Patterson moving to center had nothing to do with him not being athletic enough to play tackle and everything to do with the Notre Dame coaches feeling they needed to find a way to get him onto the field, and center made the most sense.

According to Pro Football Focus, in 497 pass snaps last season, Patterson did not allow a single sack and only allowed the quarterback to get hit just twice. In fact, he allowed just seven quarterback pressures all season.

Patterson returns as the nation’s fourth best pass blocking center from an efficiency standpoint according to PFF. With his athleticism, toughness and experience I expect Patterson to continue being a dominant pass blocker in his second season.

RUN BLOCKING MUST IMPROVE

Patterson actually graded out well in the run game according to PFF. He ranks as the nation’s eighth best center (Power 5) in the run game, but that’s not quite as good as other Irish blockers since there’s just one center compared to two guards and two tackles per team.

But Patterson did well last season from an assignment standpoint, which was impressive for a number of reasons. Not only was he just a redshirt freshman and first-year starter, as stated above he was playing center for only a few months when the season started. The fact he could make the technique changes, eye discipline changes, leverage changes and then learn to snap, all while executing his assignments effectively says a lot about Patterson as a player.

The issue, however, is that while he was assignment correct, he wasn’t overly effective as a run blocker. Patterson got little movement in the run game, often doing what the other interior players did, which was step in place and then catch instead of driving off the ball. This is a technique issue more than anything else, so it’s something that can and should be improved in 2020.

If Patterson can become a bit more forceful he could make a big leap as a player. I was a bit surprised by how tough and competitive Patterson was last season. He was young and a tad undersized, but he would compete hard, which tells me if he learns to step and drive his run blocking could explode.

As long as Patterson keeps making strides as a player, we could see him make a big leap this season and help anchor the middle of the Irish line.

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