From HCC Sports Information
After weeks of talking heads prognosticating, millions of tweets, countless blog entries and rampant general speculation about a secret kept better than who shot J.R. on the TV show Dallas, Hutchinson Community College All-American Cordarrelle Patterson announced where he will play next season at a news conference on Wednesday morning at the Stringer Fine Arts Center.
The University of Tennessee became the winner of the Patterson sweepstakes over the likes of LSU, Georgia and Ole Miss.
“This whole process has been hard,” said Patterson, a 6-foot-4, 211-pounder receiver/return specialist from Rock Hill , S.C. “I felt at home at Tennessee . My family can watch me play. They were with me from the start last summer. Other teams talked to me and actually moved past Tennessee . But Tennessee is the best place for me.”
Patterson becomes the first Blue Dragon to sign at Tennessee . Patterson and Markus Golden, who signed with new SEC member Missouri , became the first Blue Dragon Southeastern Conference signees since Chris Todd signed at Auburn after the 2007 season.
“It’s been a been a pleasure to have Cordarrelle Patterson as a member of the Hutchinson Community College family,” HCC head football coach Rion Rhoades said. “The Blue Dragon football program has benefited from CP’s skills and talents. I’ve enjoyed watching him grow as a player and person. He’s handled the process very well.
“He feels very good about his choice, so we feel good about it.”
Patterson became only the third Blue Dragon ever to be a two-time NJCAA All-American this past season, a 9-3 season that wound up with the Blue Dragons finishing ninth in the final NJCAA poll and winning their third Salt City Bowl championship.
Patterson, the 2011 Jayhawk Conference Offensive Player of the Year, owns 16 career or single-season or single-game Blue Dragon Dragons records.
This past season, 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.
Patterson’s career records include: Total receptions (113), Total receiving yards (1,832), career receiving touchdowns (24), career overall touchdowns (36), career points (216), career kickoff return average (41.9), all-purpose yards (3,379) and career returns for touchdown (6).
With the addition of this signing class, Rhoades has moved 60 players to four-year programs in his first five years with the Blue Dragon program.
Other 2011 Blue Dragons to sign letters of intent are:
Tim Edmond (LB) – Ohio University : Edmond was the team’s second-leading tackler this season with 95 total stops (59 unassisted). The 6-foot-, 236-pound all-conference freshman from Cincinnati had 12.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 quarterback sacks. He had four fumble recoveries and two interceptions. He was named the Salt City Bowl’s Most Valuable Defensive Player.
Edmond was also a key figure on special teams, helping the Blue Dragons carry out two fake punts that went for first downs and eventually for touchdowns. He threw a pass from punt formation for a first down and ran for another.
Chris Hawkins (OL) – Troy University : Hawkins, an all-conference honorable mention selection, was part of an offensive line that helped set a new NJCAA modern day scoring record when the Blue Dragon scored 90 points against Highland on Sept. 17.
The 6-4, 314-pound offensive guard from Florence , Ala , helped the Blue Dragons on that night produce 628 yards of total offense (327 rushing, 301 passing). The 2011 Blue Dragons scored 601 points, the most in Blue Dragon history.
Markus Golden (LB) – University of Missouri : Golden started as a freshman and redshirted his sophomore season. Golden was an all-conference player on Hutchinson ’s 10-2 Region VI runner-up and Salt City Bowl championship that finished fifth in the final 2010 NJCAA poll. He was second in 2010 in total tackles with 85 (38 solo stops). Golden has 25 tackles for loss totaling 117 yards, including 9.5 quarterback sacks and nine quarterback hurries. Golden intercepted two passes, forced five fumbles and recovered one and blocked one kick.
Deveon Dinwiddie (RB) – North Dakota State University : The 5-8, 179-pound redshirt freshman from Hutchinson High, led the 2011 Blue Dragons in rushing with 860 yards on 143 carries and 12 touchdowns. His 90-yard run against Independence tied for the second-longest run from scrimmage in team history.
Dinwiddie had four games rushing for 100 or more yards, including a season-high 135 yards against Independence , which came on just six carries. He had 134 yards on 20 carries against Garden City.
North Dakota State was the Football Championship Subdivsion (FCS) national champion in 2011. Dinwiddie earned second-team all-conference honors as a redshirt freshman. He missed his true freshman year because of injury.
Jonathan Brown (OL) – Northeastern State University : A 6-2, 292 freshman offensive tackle from Sylvester , GA blocked for a big-play offense that set a new record for points scored in a season. Brown earned all-conference honorable mention honors.
Twenty percent of Hutchinson ’s 779 plays went or 10 or more yards. The Blue Dragons have had 46 scoring drives of five plays or less, 27 have been three plays or less and seven have been one-play scoring drives.
Shane Smith (LB) – Fort Hays State University : Smith scored his first career touchdown in returning an interception for a score in Hutchinson ’s 70-20 Salt City Bowl victory over Lackawanna College .
Smith came on late in his freshman season to take over at middle linebacker for Chip Hester and made play after play in a Region VI semifinal victory over Independence . Smith totaled 27 total tackles (11 solo stops) in his sophomore season. He had one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and one defended pass in 2011.
Duane Sims (DB) – Baker University : Sims is a two-year starter for the Blue Dragons in the defensive secondary. The 5-9, 170-pound freshman from Wichita , was the team leader in tackles with 98 tackles, including 57 unassisted. He tied for the team lead in interceptions with three, returning a 27-yard interception for a touchdown against Highland . Sims will also have the distinction of being the first Blue Dragon in team history to return a blocked extra point for a defensive two-point conversion that came against Garden City.
Sims broke double figures in tackles three times, including a career-high 16 against Fort Scott . He also had 12 against Dodge City and 11 against Coffeyville in the Region VI semifinals.
Cameron Brandon (FB) – Friends University : Primarily a blocking back for a talented stable of running backs in his two seasons with the Blue Dragons, Brandon had just eight carries for 13 yards, but scored two touchdowns, including a Salt City Bowl touchdown against Lackawanna College .
Anthony Mendoza (DL) – Friends University : The Hutchinson Trinity product had 20 tackles and 1.5 quarterback sacks in his sophomore season. Ten of his tackles were solo stops.
Brian King (DB) – University of Texas-San Antonio : King was a redshirt for the Blue Dragons in 2011.
Kamalie Matthews (DL) – Murray State University : Matthews was a redshirt for the Blue Dragons in 2011.
Riyadh Moore (DL) – Emporia State University : Moore was a redshirt for the Blue Dragons in 2011.