DRAFT VIDEO: CLICK HERE (courtesy of Vikings.com)
NEW YORK – Former Hutchinson Community College All-American Cordarrelle Patterson became Blue Dragon football’s first first-round NFL Draft pick in program history on Thursday night when the Minnesota Vikings selected him with the 29th overall pick.
Patterson, a 6-foot-2, 216-pound receiver/return specialist, is the first Blue Dragon since 2001 to be drafted by an NFL team. That was defensive tackle Mario Monds, who was picked by the Washington Redskins in the sixth round. Between Monds and Patterson, there have been 10 Blue Dragons to reach the NFL, but they were all free-agent signings.
Minnesota wound up with three first-round selections, going defense with the 23rd and 25th overall picks. The Vikings traded back into the first round late on Thursday night with the New England Patriots for the 29th pick to draft Patterson. The Patriots get a second-, third- and seventh-round pick in the trade.
After a stellar two-year career under Blue Dragon head coach Rion Rhoades, Patterson played one season at the University of Tennessee and earned all-SEC honors before declaring for the NFL Draft in January.
Patterson is only the third Blue Dragon ever to be a two-time NJCAA All-American. Patterson was also named the 2011 Jayhawk Conference Offensive Player of the Year. When he completed his HCC career, he owned 16 career or single-season or single-game Blue Dragon Dragons records.
In 2011, Patterson caught a career-high 61 passes for 924 yards and he accounted for 1,814 all-purpose yards in helping the Blue Dragons.
The 61 receptions are a school record and the 924 yards rank fourth-best in a single season. He also set a record for single-season all-purpose yardage and had three 200-plus-yard all-purpose yardage games this season and five for his career.
Other single-season offensive records include: Scoring (144 points), total touchdowns (24), and receiving touchdowns (15).
As a kick returner, Patterson averaged an NJCAA-best and HCC single-season record 51.1 yards per return average on 12 returns with three touchdowns. Patterson owns three of the top four all-time kickoff returns with TDs of 98, 97 and 96 yards in his career. He had two kickoff returns for touchdowns against Kilgore in the 2011 season opener.
Patterson was also been a threat running the ball with 379 yards on just 32 carries (11.8 yards per rush).
Patterson accounted for 1,686 yards of all-purpose offense and averaged 17.6 yards every time he touched the football. He broke 200 all-purpose yards three times this season.
The versatile receiver scored 15 receiving touchdowns, six rushing touchdowns and three touchdowns on kickoff returns. His 15 receiving touchdowns and 24 overall touchdowns are single-season records as well as his 144 points scored in 12 games. Patterson scored touchdowns in 20 of 23 games played in his HCC career.
During his one season at Tennessee, Patterson finished with terrific all-around numbers. He had 46 catches for 778 yards and 25 carries for 308 yards. He scored 10 touchdowns, including a kickoff return and a punt return. He even completed a pass for 28 yards.
Patterson was named first-team All-SEC this past season.
To view what ESPN SportScience thinks of Patterson, click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b34PaCvgBFI
(HCC Sports Information)