Get to Know BYU Football Commit Lamese Patterson
Lamese Patterson is a defensive back and wide receiver prospect out of California who committed to BYU as part of the 2020 recruiting class. Patterson will enroll at BYU as a preferred walk-on once he returns from serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Patterson, who was called to serve in Hawaii, will return from his mission in December of 2022 before enrolling at BYU in 2023. I caught up with Patterson to discuss his recruitment and decision to play for BYU.
Patterson played safety, wide receiver, and even some quarterback in high school. Lamese tells me, however, that BYU recruited him to play safety. According to Patterson, BYU liked his "speed and ability to track the ball" during the recruiting process. He was also recruited by the University of Utah, Washington State, Sacramento State, and UCLA. You can check out his junior film here:
Patterson has intriguing speed and length as a defensive back prospect. The Cougars have found success with similar players like Jared Kapisi and Hayden Livingston who are now in the rotation in the defensive backfield. Patterson was only able to play in three games as a senior, you can watch his shortened senior film here:
Patterson has followed BYU for a few years thanks to the connections his family has to the BYU football program - his uncle Ifo Pili played defensive line at BYU from 1997 - 2003. Pili totaled 51 tackles and 6 sacks in his career at BYU.
BYU has found a lot of success with walk-ons under Kalani Sitake. Player likes Tyler Allgeier, Dax Milne, Baylor Romney, Jared Kapisi, Hayden Livingston, Jake Oldroyd, Masen Wake, and Payton Wilgar started at BYU as walk-ons before becoming contributors on a 2020 BYU football team that is now ranked #9 in the country.