Michigan may have cancelled their spring game on Wednesday but the Wolverines are still locked into a far more interesting off-field matchup against the NCAA and, now, Ole Miss to get quarterback Shea Patterson eligible for the 2018 season.
It was reported earlier this week that the Rebels are not onboard with the signal-caller being eligible right away in Ann Arbor and are actively opposing his appeal to suit up for this upcoming season. That isn’t sitting well with Patterson’s attorney, Thomas Mars, who talked with the Detroit News and used some rather colorful and descriptive language to blast what the SEC program is doing in this instance.
“If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Ole Miss hired Pinocchio to write its response to Michigan’s waiver request,” Mars said. “What’s more, the misleading statements to the sports media that Ole Miss publicly apologized for six months ago were the same misleading statements that Shea and a dozen other players and their parents say Ole Miss was telling them at the same time — both in person and over the phone.”
There’s a lot more in that story from Mars, who has also done battle publicly and privately with Ole Miss while representing Houston Nutt among others. Patterson has been practicing with the Wolverines this spring in anticipation of getting his waiver approved, hinging most of his argument over being lied to by Hugh Freeze and others about potential NCAA sanctions that were eventually handed out to the program. At the very least the signal-caller will be able to suit up for the 2019 season but both he and his attorney are hoping not to wait that long before donning the maize and blue.
If there’s some cosmic justice, we’ll somehow get an Ole Miss vs. Michigan bowl game in the not too distant future where both sides can take out their frustrations from this case on the other. It seems doubtful we’ll actually end up getting that given the state of both football programs so instead this war of words will have to do.