Crete-Monee’s Dorian Patterson entered high school as a quarterback.
He will leave as a Division I receiver.
Warriors coach John Konecki converted Patterson to a part-time receiver as a sophomore. He played the position full time as a junior and senior, and on Dec. 3 signed to continue his football career at New Mexico.
Konecki said it was the Warriors’ 28th Division I football signing since 2010.
“It was an easy decision,” Patterson said. “When I went down there to visit, I fell in love with the place and fell in love with how the coaches interacted with the players. So it was easy.”
Konecki had a tough decision to make with Derrin Couch and Patterson both showing quarterback skills. He chose Couch as the QB and Patterson became a part of the receiving corps.
“He could have pushed and said he wanted to play QB,” Konicki said of Patterson. “He never did. He went along with what the plan was and he did a fantastic job.”
Patterson said that being a quarterback for most of his career helped him adjust to the receiver position.
“Being a quarterback taught me timing and how to read the defense, so it made it easier,” he said.
At Crete-Monee, he caught 119 passes for 1,951 yards and 34 touchdowns. He caught a career-high 55 passes this season. As a junior, he had career highs with 980 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns.
He also ran the ball 49 times for 232 yards and three touchdowns in his varsity career and as a backup QB, he completed 72 of 130 passes for 942 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Patterson also played safety and had six career interceptions.
Koncecki said Couch is receiving college interest but will likely wait on his decision. The next signing period begins Feb. 4.
MAC men
Two of those 28 former Warriors in D-I were on teams that faced each other on Dec. 6 as Joshua Franklin and Western Michigan took on Lynel Billups-Williams and Miami (Ohio) in the Mid-American Conference championship.
Franklin had nine tackles and was in on half a sack in WMU’s 23-13 win. Billups-Williams had a punt return for 14 yards.
Franklin came to WMU as a receiver and had converted to cornerback. The junior entered the game with 40 tackles including 3.5 for loss and a sack. He made the All-MAC third team.
Billups-Williams, a redshirt sophomore receiver, entered the game with six catches for 51 yards and had three carries for 19 yards.