Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson repeatedly told quarterbacks Perry Patterson and Joe Fields they serve as point guards for the football team, responsible for being playmakers by pinpointing passes to receivers, tight ends and the backfield to move the chains.

With the starting quarterback position now his, Patterson will assume the point guard role Sunday when SU opens its season against West Virginia.

Patterson considers himself more of a basketball player, anyway. Between his rigorous summer schedule of three-mile runs, weightlifting, 7-on-7 drills and individual reps, the junior still found time to hit the hardwood.

Sometimes Patterson found pickup games with the SU basketball team. Other times he played to break from his football routine, using the sport he professes as his first love to enhance his athletic ability.

‘People said in high school that I was a good passer in basketball because of football,’ Patterson said. ‘But it was the other way around. I was a good passer with basketball so it made my peripheral vision a lot better with football.

‘Basketball was my main thing,’ he added. ‘People knew me for basketball.’

Back in his days at J.P. McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pa.., Patterson dazzled crowds with his laser beam tosses and playmaking ability as both a point guard and a quarterback. Patterson excelled in both sports as an all-state player, but enjoyed basketball more.

Eventually the roads met and Patterson needed to decide which turn to take. The summer after his junior year, Patterson stopped and looked at his situation. Division-II schools took interest in his ability to handle the basketball but his 6-foot-3-inch frame lessened his chances of receiving serious attention from Division-I programs.

On the gridiron, it was a different story. The likes of Penn State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Syracuse showed interest in Patterson. His footwork, arm strength and keen eye in being able to pinpoint receivers impressed them the most. He relished the role of being the talk of the town in Lancaster and wanted that to continue in college. Football was Patterson’s way to experience it.

‘He wants to be in the big time,’ said Pete Susie, Patterson’s quarterback coach at McCaskey. ‘He wants to play in front of bigger crowds. Once he saw the writing on the wall, he realized football was his ticket.’

But once Patterson arrived at SU, he didn’t glow in the spotlight he enjoyed in high school. He redshirted his freshman year, tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in spring practice that spring, then played backup to then-senior R.J. Anderson the next fall.

Once Anderson graduated, the starting quarterback slot opened. Former Orange head coach Paul Pasqualoni set up a quarterback competition between Patterson, Fields and Xzavier Gaines in the preseason to determine the starting spot in 2004.

Gaines quickly dropped out of the race, leaving Patterson and Fields competing for the spot. Although neither had completed a collegiate pass, Patterson still had more experience with the coaching personnel and SU’s playbook than the freshman Fields.

Many suspected Pasqualoni would name Patterson the starter, but he opted for Fields, a move that stunned Patterson and his supporters alike.

Patterson admits he thinks he should have been named the starter last season. McCaskey head coach Scott Feldman told The Daily Orange last year that Patterson told him he beat Fields out in every statistical category and attribute except speed. This year, Feldman said Patterson felt last season the coaching staff granted the starting job to Fields without any thought being put into it.

‘The way Perry described it to me, they didn’t have a solid answer for him on why he wasn’t starting (either),’ Susie said. ‘Coach (Pasqualoni) couldn’t even look him in the face and tell him that he wasn’t going to start. Perry was flabbergasted. He couldn’t believe he wasn’t starting.’

Fields started the first three games against Purdue, Buffalo and Cincinnati. In all three, the freshman quarterback showed flashes of potential but did not amount to much. Fields looked noticeably uncomfortable assuming the starting role and Pasqualoni shuffled the two players in the first two games.

But Fields still started. So while the freshman attempted to lead a team he only started working with the previous spring, Patterson stood on the sidelines conflicted and frustrated. He spent the offseason losing weight and solidifying his familiarity with the offense, only to lose it to a player who stepped on the Syracuse campus two years after Patterson.

Patterson insisted, though, that he never thought about transferring.

‘At times it was cool, but when I look back on it, it was a long three years for me,’ Patterson said. ‘It was just school for me. I wasn’t really happy. I was happy, but I wasn’t too happy because I wasn’t playing.’

But Patterson experienced struggles before. He tore his ACL playing basketball in the Keystone State Games before his freshman year of high school. He sat out his freshman season, but rehabilitated much faster than his doctors predicted in time to join the varsity basketball team as well as the jayvee football team his sophomore year.

And he always had strong support at home. The McCaskey coaching staff told him to stick in there. They said his opportunity would come, though no one knew when.

Patterson’s mother, Lorren, always brought Patterson to church when he was younger. Her message was simple: Be patient. Life gives you obstacles, but God provides the strength to jump over the hurdles.

‘It made him a little humble,’ Lorren said. ‘He was so sure he had the position. He had to come down a little because he was the big guy. When he left Lancaster, he was McCaskey’s (star). All they ever talked about was him. He was the big guy in the area.’

Soon enough his time came. Patterson earned his first start at SU in the Orange’s fourth game last season, totaling 141 yards in a 31-10 loss at Virginia. Patterson made mistakes along the way, often standing in the pocket too long rather than scrambling to avoid a sack or a rushed pass. He also overthrew a lot of receivers.

But then there were times when Patterson showcased what he could do once he was fully developed. His successful Hail Mary touchdown pass to end halftime stands out as a major highlight from SU’s 42-20 victory over Connecticut.

With a new coaching staff this season, Robinson decided to reopen the competition between Fields and Patterson. Robinson officially announced on Aug. 22 that Patterson would keep the starting spot for the 2005 season.

But when asked whether the coaching staff viewed the starting spot as Patterson’s position to lose, offensive coordinator Brian Pariani replied, ‘It was an open competition. They competed side by side.’

Regardless, Patterson earned the role by the end. The coaching staff felt Patterson threw more accurately and consistently. And his experience from last year certainly carried weight in the decision making.

With the new coaching staff, Patterson feels more comfortable with a newly implemented West Coast Offense. Pasqualoni’s offense relied more on running plays and various options, which often resulted in confusion. Patterson said the new offense is much simpler, especially when he goes into the huddle.

‘We try to play the game on the practice field,’ Robinson said. ‘Any time players can feel in a simulated-type atmosphere where it’s like a ball game, they like it. Even though it’s hard work and it’s competitive and all of those things, that’s our intent. Fun, or whatever it is, I feel like our players have worked really hard. I think that they’ve tried to embrace our style of coaching that we’ve brought.’

Patterson’s mother said her son liked Pasqualoni and his coaching staff, but Patterson admits he’s having more fun with Robinson’s. Major Applewhite, SU’s quarterback coach, played quarterback from 1999 to 2002 at the University of Texas and brings a personal perspective in developing his players.

‘There’s time where you have to have fun,’ Applewhite said. ‘The grind of the camp becomes too much for the psyche of a college player. You have to always, constantly try to be on the same page with your players. You can’t let them get too far away where you can’t tell what they’re thinking or what they’re feeling. At the same time, it’s not a sit-around-the-camp-fire session every day where we are discussing our feelings.’

Patterson is happy to discuss that, after three years, he is back in the spotlight that he always craved. It’s what he envisioned when he first signed with Syracuse-being in the big game in the Dome with thousands of fans focusing on what he can do. He’ll be the one directing the snaps, being the point guard-or quarterback-of a team he has always wanted to lead.

‘This is what I wish it would’ve been a couple years back,’ Patterson said. ‘I’m starting to feel like more of a football player now.’

Published on August 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm