Now it’s decision time for Patchan
Patchan’s week got off to a rough start with the loss to Booker T, Washington. After a season in which Armwood rolled over just about every opponent in its way, Booker T. Washington proved the immovable object. It was a disappointing end to what had been a dream season for Patchan, who transferred from Tampa Freedom to Armwood prior to his senior season. Despite a disappointing end to his final season, Patchan found plenty to take from his senior year.
“Overall it was a great experience,” Patchan said. “Transferring to Armwood was a great decision for me and I learned a lot of things about myself through that process. It was a very positive senior year. We were obviously very disappointed about how it ended. I really do believe that we have more talent than just about any team in America and I still feel that way. I think we were a much more talented team than (Booker T. Washington). We didn’t play anywhere near as well as we normally do. It was tough though.”
There wasn’t much time to dwell on the disappointing loss, however. Monday began a string of three straight nights in which Patchan played host to three of America’s better known coaches, staring with Les Miles of LSU.
“The LSU visit was a good one,” Patchan said. “Coach Miles came in and brought his staff with him. There was a great meal on the table. My mom really worked hard this past week! They stayed a long time just like both other schools did.”
Tuesday night brought the Miami Hurricanes and Coach Randy Shannon into his house. Patchan’s dad played football at Miami but even with plenty of family ties to the U, Patchan insists that all three schools are even. Shannon brought two of his assistants with him Tuesday evening for a visit that Patchan believes went well.
“The coaches came over here and we had a good time,” Patchan said of his visit with Miami. “My mom cooked a great meal. We drilled them really hard and asked them a lot of questions. They did a pretty good job answering all of them so that went pretty well. We mainly asked about the direction of the program and how they plan on turning it around over the next few years. It was pretty much everything that we could think of asking, we went ahead and said it because that was the time to do it. They had a lot of good answers and overall it went well.”
The three-day tour ended Wednesday night when five members of Florida’s coaching staff paid a visit. Coach Urban Meyer brought along assistants Steve Addazio, Stan Drayton, Greg Mattison and Dan Mullen. Once again, Patchan’s mom spent the day in the kitchen getting ready but she got some help from Coach Addazio, who graded out a championship chef in Patchan’s book.
“My mom was cooking and Coach Addazio put an apron on and jumped right into the kitchen with her,” Patchan said. “They prepared a great meal. Coach Addazio is quite the culinary artist!”
The visit itself was as good as the food on the table. The Patchans had plenty of questions for the Florida staff, all of which were answered to perfection.
“The Florida visit was good,” Patchan said. “We had all the coaches over and mom cooked a great meal. We did the same thing with them really. We drilled them pretty hard. We just wanted to talk about some of the rumors we had heard about players transferring out of the program.”
Now that the visits are over for Patchan, he knows he has a big decision on his hands. He will be an early enrollee so his decision should come within the next two weeks.
“I’m going to make my decision relatively soon,” Patchan said. “I’m going to sit down with my parents and make it a family decision. I’d guess a decision would come a couple days before Christmas.”