By Adam Stewart
Former HutchCC Blue Dragon Cordarrelle Patterson announced Monday that he was released by the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Breaking news!!!” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Pittsburgh Steelers release old washed up cordarrelle patterson on his day off!!!”
Patterson played in 13 games for the Steelers last season, rushing for 135 yards, gaining 80 receiving yards and catching a touchdown, and returning 11 kicks for 240 yards in his 12th NFL season.
Patterson played football for two seasons at HutchCC, earning All-America honors both seasons while racking up 36 total touchdowns and 3,379 all-purpose yards. After playing in Hutchinson, he transferred to the University of Tennessee, where he played one season before being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings.
Rion Rhoades, who was the head football coach at HutchCC from 2007 to 2019, said he could see Patterson’s potential even before he signed with the team.
“His talent was rare, for sure,” Rhoades said Monday.
He said the Blue Dragons coaches could see they needed to get Patterson the ball, so they ran handoffs to him, threw passes to him, used him as a kickoff returner, and even ran direct snaps to him in the “wildcat” formation.
Rhoades said lots of athletes have great potential, but some squander it by not making the effort to cultivate their talent or by getting in trouble. But Patterson did the things he needed to do, in both the classroom and practice, and he stayed out of trouble.
“I saw a young man who grew up with nothing in Rock Hill, S.C., become a man who absolutely changed the trajectory of his life,” Rhoades said.
He said Patterson was initially shy around adults and strangers, but he became more outgoing in his two years in Hutchinson as he grew and matured.
“He was a lot of fun to coach,” Rhoades said. “He was very competitive. He was a great teammate, too. He was a really good locker room guy.”
Patterson was drafted in the first round, 29th overall, in the 2013 NFL Draft. He played four seasons for the Vikings and has played for the Raiders, Patriots, Bears, Falcons, and Steelers.
Halfway through his rookie season, he returned the opening kickoff against Green Bay 109 yards, tying an NFL record for the longest kick return and longest play. That record is unbreakable, as if a player caught a kickoff 1 yard deeper, they would be out of bounds.
He also holds the NFL record for most career kick return touchdowns with 9. Patterson is second in career all-purpose yards among active players with 13,768, only trailing Julio Jones by 116 yards. And he is a four-time NFL All-Pro honoree.
Patterson is a Super Bowl champion. In Super Bowl LIII in 2019, he caught 2 passes for 14 yards, ran the ball 2 times for 7 yards, and returned 1 kickoff for 38 yards in the Patriots’ 13-3 victory over the Rams.