In addition to athlete / linbacker Jay Harrison the Bulls are pulling in another linebacker to help shore up the center of UB’s defense.
James Patterson is an inside linebacker from St. Vincent Pallotti high school in Laurel, Maryland. He committed to the Bulls late in July last year and is listed as a three star recruit by the service 247.
Patterson has good measurables for a middle linebacker. He is six foot, 230 pounds. He runs a the 40 in 4.72, benches 285, squats 475, deadlifts 335, and clean jerks 205.
He’s already as big as Jarrett Franklin and you have to think that a year of strength and conditioning could help him get up to 240 or so, where Khalil Hodge is.
Pallotti is where UB Football alum Justin Winters works. Winters was one of 2008’s heros who led UB to a MAC championship. Now as a coach in Maryland he is, hopefully, helping UB to set up a pipeline to bring in this kind of talent.
Next season, Patterson’s freshman year, sees Jarrett Franklin and Ishmael Hargrove as seniors. So Harrison could be part of a wide open competition after spending his redshirt season on the sidelines.