featured image: @AUGBBALL – Twitter
Jalen Patrick is a class of 2023 playmaker who had a big stand out varsity game last Friday. The sophomore is still getting his ear’s wet on varsity, but last week against Acadamy of Richmond Hill Patrick had one to remember with 100 yards receiving, two touchdowns, and 9 receptions.
The night was capped off with an impressive 30-yard touchdown where most of the damage was done after the catch. The sophomore caught a pass, settling around the 12-yard line with several defenders closing in, but the elusive Patrick had a few tricks up his sleeve. He juked out the first player, then squared up to have three more between him and the endzone. The quick-footed sophomore made a quick jab, and then accelerated splitting through the defense and then sped towards the endzone where he was ultimately tackled across the goal line for the score
Last Friday’s play was certainly exciting, and just a few days later it made our top plays of the week. 24 hours later, and Patrick had finished in the top 3 plays of the week thanks to the strong support from the Hephzibah community.
Just last year the 2023 recruit was playing QB on the JV squad, but over the last year he is starting to become a playmaker at receiver. So how did he improve, especially during these unprecedented times.
“Getting workouts in during the offseason with Covid around was a little difficult but I made sure I conditioned as much as possible.” Patrick then went to talk about improvements, “I’ve improved a lot on my release of the line of scrimmage and my route running; I’ve also been more of a vocal leader.”
For every young athlete, there is always inspiration coming from the pro level, so we asked who Patrick models his game after.
“I try to model my game after receivers like Michael Thomas with amazing hands and Keenan Allen’s route running ability,” he said.
With the season getting close 3/4 of the way done, the class of 2023 recruit would like to see his team finish the season strong.
“For the remainder of the season, I’m just focused on doing anything my team needs me to do to get wins.”
On the recruiting front, there is not much to say for Patrick. He’s a relatively new name for us even, and it is just his sophomore year, to go along with the global pandemic, so well, there is not a whole lot of buzz just yet.
“I haven’t heard from any colleges yet, but I’m only a sophomore, so I’m going to just keep working until people start to see the work I’ve been putting in.”
Typically when we see a sophomore make plays like he did last Friday, it’s a good sign for things to come. You cannot teach that sort of elusiveness and on the fly creativity, so we expect to hear more about Patrick in the coming months and years. To keep up to date, be sure to follow @RecruitGeorgia on Twitter to hear the latest on Patrick and more emerging recruits across the state of Georgia.
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