Photo by Reed Carringer

In basketball, one-and-done players are the norm. In football, however, the phenomenon of a player playing one year of NCAA football and then up and leaving as a projected NFL 1st-round pick is much more rare. In fact, I can’t think of a player who has done that until Cordarrelle Patterson graced Knoxville with his talents for one year.

Now there are certainly cases of players who rode one year of massive success in college to money in the pros, like Cam Newton and Nick Fairley, but those two had the benefit of more than one season and spring on a SEC football team’s roster. That is what makes what Cordarrelle did at Tennessee even more special, he didn’t arrive until right before preseason camp and still managed to set the school’s  single-season record for all-purpose yardage with 1858.

Photo by Reed Carringer

Cordarrelle Patterson was so good that then Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley gained the confidence to boot Da’Rick Rogers, who was an All-SEC wide receiver the year before. Even he recognized Patterson’s ridiculous athletic ability and talent with the ball in his hands as soon as Patterson set foot on campus.

All this said however, Tennessee fans wouldn’t get to see what they had until the Chick-fil-a Kickoff in the dome. NC State came in toting an All-American corner in David Amerson. By halftime, that last name would be a source of embarrassment as Patterson had worked Amerson on an end-around and absolutely torched him deep. That wouldn’t be the last time Patterson thrilled Vol fans with his stunning ability to move his 6’2 217 pound frame like that of the nimblest running backs and wide receivers in the nation.

Then came the reverse play at Georgia where Patterson turned a busted reverse into an absolutely ridiculous touchdown run. The Mizzou game is literally Patterson’s highlight reel (ignore the fact that Dooley found a way to lose that game).

In his one season, Patterson averaged 28 yards per kick return, good for second best in SEC history. Not to mention Mr. Patterson also scored the Vols’ first punt return touchdown since 2003 and first kick return touchdown since 2002. Cordarrelle was also the first NCAA player since 2008 to score a touchdown in four different ways. There’s no way to sugarcoat this, Patterson was truly a unique talent that Tennessee may never see the likes of again.

It really stinks that the tremendous exploits of Patterson and some of his fellow Volunteer offensive players were wasted in a 5-7 season that featured the worst defensive performance in Tennessee history, but at the same time UT fans need to accept the fact they had a monumentally gifted player. It would have been nice if he had stayed to play in Butch Jones and Mike Bajakian’s spread offense, but that simply was not in the cards.

It is absolutely stunning that Patterson is likely to fall into the bottom half of the first round of the NFL draft. Patterson is such a unique and special talent with the ball in his hands. He would immediately be a game-changer as a kick and punt returner. He does need coaching in terms of how to be a wide receiver, but it really seems that teams are looking for reasons to not draft him.

All of that said, I hope Tennessee fans can respect the hell out of Patterson’s individual season and not weigh the team’s failures against a guy who came in and simply balled out for one heck of a year.