Report: Shea Patterson claims Hugh Freeze 'plotted' to keep him at Ole Miss with lies about sanctions
In December, Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson decided to transfer to Michigan in light of the NCAA sanctions handed down in Oxford.
Patterson sought immediate eligibility at Michigan because of the circumstances of his transfer.
Earlier in April, it was reported that Ole Miss was opposing Patterson’s request for immediate eligibility. Patterson was one of several players looking to leave Oxford without the standard one-year sit penalty for NCAA transfers, claiming that Hugh Freeze misled them about the severity of the impending sanctions that included a two-year bowl ban.
Freeze stepped down from his job as Ole Miss head coach after he was exposed for using a business phone to contact an escort service. All the while, the cloud of the NCAA investigation was hanging over Freeze’s head.
On Wednesday, CBS Sports reported that Patterson filed a nine-page report with the NCAA detailing his claim that Freeze lied to him repeatedly over the course of 20 months while trying to discredit the NCAA and media reports of the impending sanctions.
CBS’s report states that it was allowed to view Patterson’s document with the agreement that it would not report on its details, which it did not.
The report did state that Patterson claimed that officials at Ole Miss “plotted” to deceive him and other 2016 recruits about the impending sanctions. Patterson implicated athletic director Ross Bjork, along with Freeze.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me that the only thing standing in the way of Coach Freeze making $5 million a year at another school was the discovery that he wasn’t the trustworthy, straight-laced role model that he claimed to be,” Patterson reportedly states.
Patterson would presumably be a prime candidate to start for the Wolverines if ruled eligible for the upcoming season. A five-star recruit out of high school, Patterson threw for 3,139 yards, 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 10 starts at Ole Miss.
The decision on his status for the upcoming season is in the NCAA’s hands.
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