Inside the Huddle with Daymond Patterson - Archive

10.13.2011

Happy Birthday Leap, Radio, Primetime

Hey everybody! It's Daymond and I'm back with another installment of my blog. Before I get started with anything else, I would like to make sure I wish a very special Happy Birthday to Todd "Leaper" Williams! Leaper is such a great guy and he works so hard for our team. We all love seeing him at practice and at our games. He is truly one of kind. Happy Birthday Leaper!!! (I promised not to say how old he is!)

It seems like every week I get to experience something different. The first two weeks following my injury I had to watch the game on TV and then sit in the stands. Now, this past week, I had to listen to the game on the radio. Since I did not actually get to see the game, I will not talk about last week's game too much in this blog.

Of course, everybody knows we took a tough loss down in Stillwater, but there were some positives to come out of the game. For example, TE Tim Bierewas honored with the College Football Performance Awards as the top TE performer of the week. Tim had a really good week. He recorded seven catches for 93 yards and made a lot of good plays throughout the game. He has been a really reliable target throughout his senior season and really for most of his career. We are really counting on Tim to make big plays during the rest of the season. With that said, not only is Tim one of our most dominant players on the field, he easily ranks as one of the top five `funny guys' on the team. He has that sly, sarcastic sense of humor. I enjoy hearing his "commentary" throughout practice.

As far as this upcoming week, when the Sooners come into town we will need to be on top of our game. The Sooners are ranked No. 1 in the Coaches' Poll and they have been very impressive throughout this year. Knowing that, we will have to really limit our mistakes and make sure we come out swinging this week, so that we can compete and get the results we are looking for this Saturday. The team knows that this matchup versus the Sooners is no easy task, but if we go out there and play fundamentally sound and fight for four quarters, it could make for a very entertaining Saturday.

Not only are we playing the top-ranked team in the nation, but we are playing them on primetime on ESPN2, so that adds a little more excitement to the game. I am looking for us to bounce back after a really tough loss. I say that from being out at practice this week. I can see more determination and passion in the defense this week, because the defense knows what OU's offense is capable of and they want to stop it before it gets rolling.

I would like to congratulate, Jake Laptad, aka "Gerber Baby", as I call him, for being signed back to the Chicago Bears practice squad. He is a really good friend and person and he really deserves it.

One of my special friends that I have known for a little over a year now, Elijah Penrod, is a 10-year old boy from Topeka, Kan., who has been diagnosed with leukemia. He loves the Kansas Jayhawks just as much as any fan you will meet. He will be in attendance this Saturday at the game. You will probably see him hanging out with me and wearing a #15 jersey. So if you see him, give him a big Rock Chalk welcome!

We all know basketball is kicking off around these parts tomorrow with `Late Night in the Phog.' I want to wish the men's and women's players the best of luck with their skits. I hope they are funny! This will be my one and only chance to see what this thing is all about--so I hope it lives up to the hype!

Until next week--Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

10.6.2011

Working Out, Throwbacks, AJ Steward and Rell Lewis

Hey everybody! I'm back for my second blog. These past few weeks have been crazy for me. I went from thinking this would be my final season here at KU--to all of the sudden planning on being here for a fifth year pending the approval of my medical redshirt. This injury has shown me several things that I have not experienced as a college athlete, and has allowed me to do things that most students do during their freshman year. Since I have been injured, I have watched my team play twice. First, I watched on television when we played at Georgia Tech and this past week, I sat in the stands and watched as we took on Texas Tech. Let me tell you one thing--it is a lot more difficult to sit and watch the team in the stands than on TV. It took me until about the second quarter to get over not being able to help my team out there. On a positive side, though, I was able to walk around and tailgate with some of the fans and interact with them, which was a lot of fun before the game. The sad thing is I had to ask some of the fans where to go so I could get my ticket to get into the game!

Since I'm out for the rest of this season, I have used some of my extra time to do additional workouts to help improve on my skills and work on areas that I usually don't get a chance to work on during the season. I'm not the only one getting in extra workouts though. Our media relations lady, Katy Lonergan, is in the gym trying to get into better shape. I was there to witness her first workout and I'm not going to lie, it was pretty intense. She performed really well throughout the whole workout, but let's just say she was not the happiest person during the workout. Coach McPherson was pushing her the whole time and wouldn't let her slack off and she definitely let him hear about it. I am very proud of her. Even though I could tell she was hurting, she pushed through and finished strong--something our strength coaches are always encouraging us to do.

Now let's talk about the Texas Tech game. There were things we did well and things that we can improve on to get better the rest of the season. First off, I want to say that I loved the Throwback jerseys and felt it was a very nice tribute to the 1961 team. I almost snuck into the locker room to throw one on so I could update my Facebook profile picture with me wearing a Throwback jersey! As far as the game, we started out really strong and came out fired up just like I knew we would. The offense had a very good rhythm going and the running game was carrying us early in the first half. On top of a strong offense, the defense came out and played really well and was able to get some key stops and get off the field. Through most of the first quarter, we were in complete control and things were looking really good for us. After we came out playing a very solid game in the beginning, there were some costly mistakes and turnovers were made. As Coach Gill said after the game, these were all pretty much self-inflicted wounds that allowed Texas Tech to get back into the game and to have momentum swing back their way. With that being said, we still went into halftime with a three-point lead and believing we were very capable of winning this game. After halftime we came out really slow, which has been a problem for our team throughout the first few games. This allowed Texas Tech to retake the lead and the momentum once again. In the fourth quarter we fought back with some good drives and a touchdown, but Texas Tech managed to keep the lead and eventually won the game.

On the positive side, even though we were down, the team continued to fight hard the whole game. I know just trying hard doesn't win you games, but I can see so much growth in this team from last year. Something else that I enjoyed seeing Saturday was TE AJ Steward and RB Rell Lewis both getting their first career TDs. These two guys have been here with me since I stepped on campus and are great individuals both off and on the field. I was happy to see them reap some rewards for all the time and hard work they have put into this program over the years.

I had time to talk to both AJ and Rell after the game and I asked them each how it felt to get their first career touchdown on Saturday versus Texas Tech.

"It was a bit rewarding just because of the hard work and trials that I've been through in my career," said AJ, who is from St. Louis. "I couldn't get total fulfillment though because it came in a losing fashion."

"It felt good and was a sigh of relief," said Rell.

With an answer like that I see how all the media across the world feels with the generic answers a lot of athletes and coaches give. C'mon man you got to give me something better than that Rell!

On the serious side, Rell did also say that he was very excited to get to go back home (when we play at Oklahoma State this week) and be able to play in front of friends and family. Getting a win would make going back to Oklahoma that much better.

The keys to beating a top-ranked team like Oklahoma State according to AJ (the assistant head coach if you ask him) are "to play with determination and be fundamentally sound. That's the only way you beat good teams."

I completely agree with AJ's statement, but I also think it will be very interesting to see how our team reacts after two tough losses in back to back games. This could be a big turning point in our season if we can go to Stillwater and knock off an extremely talented Oklahoma State team.

Ok--I am wrapping this up now--but before I go, I would like to give a shout out the KU women's soccer team for a great double-overtime victory against Texas this past week. That was a huge victory--great job ladies! Also the Kansas volleyball team had a good comeback victory over Nebraska-Omaha during the week and looks like they are making a run at the NCAA Tournament. I know that our women's basketball team started practice Wednesday and it seems like they could be in for a very good year. My fellow Texas native, Carolyn Davis, was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team--that is so tough to do. To be named one of the top five players in this conference in women's hoops is tough! Congrats to you Carolyn! I'm looking forward to catching some games this winter. Men's basketball will start practice next week. Both the men and women have `Late Night in the Phog' next Friday (Oct. 14). Since I am not playing right now--I will definitely have to check that out for the first time ever!

Well that's it for the second edition of `Inside the Huddle with Daymond Patterson.' Everybody have a safe and fun weekend. As always Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

9.29.2011

Welcome to Inside the Huddle

Hey everyone! My name is Daymond Patterson ll.  I am a senior wide receiver here at KU, well I was a senior, but after the injury I suffered during the first game I will hopefully be receiving a medical redshirt and will be back on the field again next year for KU.  Most of you all probably know me from the football field as No. 15, but if you are socially hip, you might have seen some of the videos my roommate, KU tight end AJ Steward, and I did over the summer. Check these out if you haven’t already:

Enough about me! Some of you are probably wondering why I am sitting here doing a blog.  After Coach Gill and myself decided it was better for me to sit out the rest of the season, it freed up a little of my time and one thing that we felt would be a pretty cool thing to do would be to give the fans an inside scoop on some of the things happening with Kansas Football. I will be blogging weekly about some of things that happen throughout the week as we prepare for the upcoming game, the actual game and other interesting things happening with the team and on campus.  So here we go!

Two players I would like to feature in this week’s blog are freshman WR JaCorey Shephard and senior DL Patrick Dorsey. Both JaCorey and Patrick have missed some practice and game time this fall with injuries. In fact, Patrick has yet to play in a game. I am so happy to see both of these players healthy again and able to get back on the field. Since we were all injured during the same time period, I got to see firsthand how hard they both have worked each day to get healthy and so they could get back on the field for Big 12 Conference play.

Now that JaCorey and Patrick are healthy, they no longer have to do the workouts during practice that the strength coaches put the injured players through. Unfortunately, this leaves me over there to fend for myself while assistant strength coach Shaun McPherson and former player-turned assistant strength coach Justin Springer put me through long workouts. I am still trying to figure out if we are working out to stay in shape over there or training for the next 300 movie, because the amount of ab work we do is just crazy!  The workouts aren’t the only thing killing me over there, but what’s also killing me is that I don’t have anyone to talk to anymore during the workouts and if you haven’t figured out by now, I kind of like talking. After JaCorey and Patrick were cleared to return to practice, I asked them both the same three questions which were:  1. How does it feel to be able to get back on the field again? 2. What was the worst part about being injured?  3. What was a positive, if any, that came from being injured?

JaCorey’s answers were as follows:

1. It just feels great to be back out there and contribute to the team.  I am ready to pick up where I left off from the first few games.

2. Having to sit out of practice on the side, watching my teammates prepare without me has to be by far be the worst part about being injured.

3. While I was injured, I found more time to watch film and get prepared for games, which I feel will really benefit me throughout the rest of the season. 

Patrick, or as we call him ‘Patty-Doe’ answered with the following:

1. It feels good to be back with my teammates and back on the field practicing.  It means so much to me being a senior and being able to play my last year and I’m just happy to be able to help the team again. 

2. The worst part about being injured is having to sit and watch everyone else practice and play in the games. I went through training camp, summer workouts and spring ball with these guys, so watching from the sidelines and not being able to lend a helping hand was very frustrating.

3. This was a very humbling experience and made me more passionate for the game of football and I am grateful to have had an opportunity to play Division I football. This injury made me more focused and dedicated to getting back on the field to help my team reach all of its goals my last year here at Kansas.

The last time our team took the field we had a very disappointing loss at Georgia Tech. After a long bye week, which enabled everybody to get healthy again, our team is more focused and ready to start conference play off on the right foot. Just from sitting in the wide receiver room through the bye week and throughout this week, I can feel the urgency that Coach Beaty and the wide receiving corps is bringing into this game. The sense of urgency doesn’t stop there with the wide receivers because I can also feel it from the rest of the team. Everyone has been flying around in practice and being physical knowing that that is what it is going to take to get a win this Saturday. After being around these guys since we last played, I can really see the hunger our team has to get a win in our first conference game.  I would really be surprised if our team didn’t play our best game of the year thus far when Texas Tech comes to Lawrence. 

Jayhawk fans, if you have time to swing by Wescoe Beach this Friday (Sept. 30), Coach Gill will be signing autographs at noon.  It will be a fun time on the beach and you will get a chance to say what’s up to Coach and get to interact with him a little bit off the field. This weekend should be a pretty good time in Lawrence with the football team coming off a bye week and its Homecoming so you already know there will be plenty to do.  I am personally looking forward to seeing all the Jayhawk alumni coming back for weekend to support the team and to meet back up with friends from college. Well that’s all for this first blog everybody have a good Homecoming weekend ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

Additional Entries
Welcome to Inside the Huddle (9.29.2011)
Working Out, Texas Tech, AJ Steward and Rell Lewis (10.6.2011)
Happy Birthday Leap, Radio, Primetime (10.13.2011)