When it came to his recruitment Mission Viejo, Calif. offensive lineman, Jarrett Patterson certainly didn’t have limited choices. Ultimately though, none of his options were attractive to him as Arizona State, which led him to Saturday’s afternoon pledge.
"It's home away from home," Patterson said. "I definitely feel confident living there. I'd be happy, and of course, it's still close to home. Tempe is a really great city, Arizona State has great fans. I really like the atmosphere there. It has beautiful facilities, and I just couldn't beat it. ASU is the right place for me.
" There was just no reason to wait. I wasn't waiting for any kind of dream offer. If Arizona State is the perfect fit I just didn't see any reason to wait."
Ever since Patterson’s high school teammate, Christian LaValle, committed to Arizona State in June, it was believed that the Sun Devils were in the driver seat to land the offensive lineman. The Sun Devils’ Head Coach, Todd Graham, told Patterson not to base his decision on LaValle’s actions but admitted that the familiarity factor did play a factor today.
“He (Christian LaValle) was definitely a part of it, “Patterson commented, “and I feel a lot better knowing I'm going to have a teammate there. We're close now, and I think we're going to get a lot closer when we're both at Arizona State.”
Patterson added that he plans on majoring in technical engineering or computer science, and valued the fact that Arizona State has a good engineering school.
Patterson was part of a 2016 Diablos team that had one of its best seasons ever, capturing an 11-1 mark. The left tackle was part of a balanced and explosive offense which averaged 213 rushing yards and 237 passing yards per game and scored 79 touchdowns. Naturally, Patterson’s junior season performance caught the eye of ASU’s offensive line coach, Rob Sale.
“Coach Sale said that I remind him a lot of the left tackle they have starting right now (Cohl Cabral),” Patterson described in a previous interview. “He likes my arm length and how quick I move and adjust. He also likes how I block in space which ASU does a lot. He said I could play left or right tackle.
“I think I fit their offense well because just like my high school they run the spread, but also run the ball a lot like a pro-style offense with fullbacks and tight ends. Some sets have extra lineman as tight ends and fullbacks too.”
Patterson had ten Power 5 school offers among his 20-plus overall offers and visited Cal TCU and Texas.
Patterson is the 12th commit in ASU’s 2018 class and the fifth high school prospect pledge from the state of California, a region where ASU had no high school player commits from in their 2017 class.
