Patterson ‘back in that killer mode’

Shea 
Patterson 
remembers 
when he first met Jim Harbaugh. It 
was last December in Mississippi 
when the now-junior quarterback 
found 
the 
Michigan 
football 
coach’s straight-forward approach 
and character endearing. 
So 
much 
so 
that, 
during 
the pair’s first recruiting visit, 
Patterson turned to his friend with 
a prophetic message.
“I want to play for that guy.”
Almost a year later, Patterson 
is indeed playing for Harbaugh 
— and quite well. Patterson has 
thrown for nearly 2,000 yards 
and 17 touchdowns in 10 games as 
a Wolverine, delivering striking 
consistency 
with 
just 
three 
interceptions and a 66 percent 
completion percentage. 
Patterson said that Harbaugh 
naturally 
helped 
with 
his 
knowledge and understanding 
of the game. That has been 
reflected in Patterson’s success 
in transitioning from Ole Miss’ 
spread offense to more complex 
sets at Michigan.
But 
Harbaugh’s 
effect 
on 
Patterson extends far beyond a 
playbook.
“I think he reminded me of 
that feeling again,” Patterson said. 
“Because every coach is different. 
But just his drive, his work ethic 
and the way he runs things here 
reminded me and has gotten me 
back in that killer mode.”
That killer mode is a product 
of an obsession for the game of 
football. It’s well-known that 
Harbaugh has it — from the 
cleats he wears on the sideline to 
mottos like “crave contact” — and 
Patterson says he does as well.
“Just his passion for the game 
— you can really see it,” Patterson 
said. “I think I’m one of those 
guys, too. I love the game. I love 
everything that comes with it. So 
does he, not only as a player back 
when he was playing, but as a 
coach. You can see it.”

That’s just a start for the 
similarities between the two. 
During his weekly radio show 
Monday, Harbaugh said that he 
and Patterson are “on the same 
page,” and even took it a step 
further. 
“I think I get him,” Harbaugh 
said.
The parallels are not glaring 
in front of the media. Harbaugh 
can be unpredictable, tense and 
combative at times. Patterson, 
meanwhile, is soft-spoken and 
even-keeled.
But the two have meshed on 
the football field. Patterson has 
seen clips of Harbaugh during his 
playing days evading defenders 
to complete throws on the run — 
something Patterson continues to 
do successfully at Michigan.
In 
the 
third 
quarter 
last 
Saturday 
against 
Rutgers, 
Patterson rolled to his left and 
threw across his body 30 yards 
down the sideline. It was not a 
high-percentage play — but it 
was for Patterson. He put it in 
perfect position for sophomore 
receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones 
to make the catch for a third-down 
conversion.
“He made some throws that 
were just unbelievable,” Harbaugh 

said Saturday. “Put in the right 
spot, with the wind blowing, 
swirling.”
It was not always this seemingly 
easy for Patterson. When he joined 
Michigan’s roster last winter, his 
eligibility for the 2018 season was 
still up in the air. And though many 
expected he would eventually win 
the starting quarterback job, it 
was not necessarily a guarantee 
for him.
“‘You got to earn it, you got to 
earn everything.’ That’s the first 
thing (Harbaugh) ever told me,” 
Patterson said. “He said when I 
came in, ‘Nothing’s going to be 
given to you. Everything’s going to 
earned. We got some really good 
quarterbacks here, you’re going to 
have to find a way to be the guy.’
“Once I had the opportunity 
to do that through play and the 
season as it goes, we continued to 
build that bond.”
That bond has Patterson and 
the Wolverines in an exceptional 
position now at 9-1 and ranked 
inside the top four. Eleven months 
after he first met Harbaugh, 
Patterson knows his message to 
his friend was the right call.
“It’s been everything and more 
of what I thought it was going to 
be,” Patterson said

 Marshall ready for his last day at ‘M’

This time last year, Lawrence 
Marshall didn’t know whether or 
not he’d be back for a fifth year. 
At that point — a redshirt 
junior — Marshall had played in 
10 career games, with just nine 
tackles to show for it. Defensive 
line 
coach 
Greg 
Mattison 
approached Marshall after last 
season and expressed a desire to 
have him return. Still, Marshall 
was understandably reticent. He 
could have easily departed as a grad 
transfer and found a more regular 
role elsewhere; it would’ve been 
hard to blame him.
Then Mattison told Marshall 
a story that helped bring clarity 
to the situation. Mattison left 
Michigan for Notre Dame in 1996, a 
year before the Wolverines won the 
national title. 
“‘Lawrence, you don’t want to 
feel that way,’ ” Marshall recalls 
Mattison saying, “ ‘leaving and 
Michigan 
winning 
a 
national 
championship and you left at the 
wrong time.’
“I was like, ‘I don’t want to be 
that person.’ ” 
But the decision wasn’t that 
simple — Marshall knew there 
were real reasons to leave. He made 
a pro/con list that included “not 
really playing, not really producing 
as you want to produce.” He knew 
that was a possibility. 
Then, defensive end Chase 
Winovich decided to return for 
a fifth year, quarterback Shea 
Patterson 
announced 
he 
was 
transferring to Michigan and 
Marshall’s mind was made up.
“I talked to Chase. I knew 
(Bryan) Mone was coming back. 
I talked to Jared (Wangler) a little 
bit. I talked to Brandon Watson, too. 
We all just came up with a plan,” 
Marshall said. “Our plan was to beat 
Michigan State, beat Ohio State, go 
to the Big Ten championship, win 
that, go to the playoffs, go to the 
national championship, and we 
have all that at stake right now.

“When you look at the paper you 
were like, ‘Oh my god, this is a great 
team.’ ”
Now, with those goals either 
accomplished or in reach, standing 
weeks away from glory in his 
fifth season, Marshall already 
feels validation. He’s carved out a 
valuable niche on this team, playing 
in seven games and filling in as 
a starter when defensive tackles 
Aubrey Solomon and Michael 
Dwumfour 
went 
down 
with 
injuries. 
When he walks out of the 
tunnel Saturday against Indiana 
for his final home game, Marshall 
admits he “might cry.” Standing in 
Schembechler Hall, senior Tyree 
Kinnel chimes in with a retort: “Of 
course you’re going to cry.”
And who could blame him?
Marshall and his fellow fifth-
year seniors, in particular, have 
seen plenty in their careers. 
The group will walk on the field 
Saturday with a 42-27 record, and 
with more highs and lows than 
most programs experience in a 
decade.
“My journey, it’s been different,” 
he said. “A lot of ups and downs 
— with playing time, with the 
team, not going to a bowl game my 
freshman year — to now, it’s like a 
180.” 
Marshall and his recruiting class 

came in under coach Brady Hoke, 
in an environment starkly different 
from the one they leave. Saturday 
will be reflective for a group that 
withstood those hardships — and 
is emerging triumphant through 
them.
“When we came in, we were 
5-7. We’ve gone through kind of a 
roller coaster, from people telling 
you you’re the greatest thing and 
people telling you you’re almost 
nothing,” Wangler said. “… You 
definitely know what the bottom 
feels like, and (now) you’re getting a 
taste of the top feels like. You really 
just want to keep that momentum 
going and do something special 
with that.”
This isn’t that fairy tale ending 
yet, of course. That can only come 
two, three weeks down the line 
— and then, perhaps, beyond. 
“The goal wasn’t just to win nine 
games — that was never the goal,” 
Marshall said.
But Marshall made a decision 
last season to stick it out, with the 
hope of being in the very position he 
and his teammates currently stand 
in. Senior Day on Saturday will be a 
time for him to appreciate that.
He stands back and shares a 
wide smile.
“Great decision I stayed, right?” 
he says. “I would’ve missed out on 
this.”

MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor

EVAN AARON/Daily
Harbaugh has connected with Shea Patterson to spark Michigan’s 9-1 run.

RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Lawrence Marshall made the decision to stay at Michigan after last season.

8A — Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

