Notebook: Patton Hitting His Stride
Dec 18 | Football
By Tom Luicci
ScarletKnights.com
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Even now as he thinks about, Andre Patton has a hard time coming to grips with the reality that Rutgers' season will come to an end following the Dec. 26 Quick Lane Bowl.
In his mind, it's just getting started.
"That's kind of the way it feels for me," the sophomore wide receiver said. "I've had a rough season and it took a while to get started and now that I feel I'm where I want to be there's only one game left."
In preseason, few players dazzled as consistently as the 6-4, 200-pound Patton did, emerging from the summer as the complement to Leonte Carroo that the Scarlet Knights were looking for. But an upper body injury suffered a week before the season opener sidelined Patton for the first four games.
Even after finally returning, he managed just one catch for four yards the next four games, struggling to assimilate to the offense.
Those struggles would end in the final four games, when the Wilmington, Del., native combined for 16 catches for 152 yards, highlighted by his breakout game against Maryland in the regular-season finale when he caught eight passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns. He was one of three receivers to catch 100 yards worth of passes in the game, a program first.
"It was a tough year. Coming back from the injury was really tough because it felt like I was back at the beginning again, back to having to remind people what I was capable of after I think I did that in the summer," he said. "Then I really wasn't in the offense and I had to work my way back into it. That was the hardest thing.
"It just took time. It finally happened. I hope to build off that (Maryland game) going into the bowl game. I think I can do even more. Hopefully that's just the start."
Based on his summer play, Patton looked to be the next in line as a topflight receiver at Rutgers. But it hadn't happened in a game for him until Maryland.
"That game reinforced my confidence and for the coaches it gave them more confidence in me, seeing that I can do the things on the field and at crunch time that I've shown in practice," he said. "It's a foundation for next year. This season showed me what I'm capable, especially how I responded by bouncing back from a tough situation."
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Head coach Kyle Flood knows it won't be long before the attention shifts to quarterback and trying to find a replacement for senior Gary Nova, and he's confident that both Heyden Rettig and redshirt freshman Chris Laviano will be up to the challenge.
Rettig, a transfer from LSU, is redshirting this season after doing so for the Tigers in 2013, meaning he will have been idle two full years before he gets his shot at Rutgers.
"I think Heyden Rettig throws meaningful passes every day. Every pass he throws in practice is meaningful," Flood said. "I think the ones where he's got to go through the decision process are a little more valuable to his experience and his learning, but I think every one of them trains his body. So we're pleased with what we've seen so far and he's going to have a chance to compete in the spring. That's the reason he came here."
Laviano, the current backup, has appeared in five games.
"A guy like Chris who has played for us now in games and had the experience - not just the experience in games but the experience of being the backup quarterback and taking the reps in practice, (which) has really added to the way he has come along in his career," Flood said. "Now he's going to have a chance to do it on a full-time basis in the spring."
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The Dec. 26 Quick Lane Bowl against North Carolina at Ford Field will mark Rutgers' fourth bowl game in a dome - and the Scarlet Knights are 3-0 in those games, averaging 44.7 points and 484.7 yards.
The Texas Bowl (a 37-10 victory over Kansas State), the International Bowl (a 52-30 victory over Ball State) and the St. Petersburg Bowl (a 45-24 victory over UCF) are the three domed bowl games Rutgers has played.
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An updated injury report for the bowl game, Flood said today, will be released next week.
