Joshua Patterson Makes Shocking Decision on Future With Iowa State Cyclones Football

Iowa State Cyclones freshman safety Joshua Patterson has made a surprising decision about his future with the team.

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The Iowa State Cyclones' secondary suffered a malady of injuries throughout the 2025 college football season. It led to the team digging deep into their depth chart in search of healthy players who could contribute.

Cornerback Jeremiah Cooper was the first to go down with a season-ending knee injury. Against the Arizona Wildcats in Week 5, it was their other star corner, Jontez Williams, who also suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Cornerback Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman had a season-ending injury of his own. Safties Jamison Patton, Ta’Shawn James and Carson Van Dinter also missed time because of ailments.

It pushed some players into more prominent roles than expected coming into the campaign. One of the players who was asked to step up was freshman Joshua Patterson.

Joshua Patterson is leaving Cyclones football program

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A three-star recruit in the Class of 2025, he looked to be a long-term building block for the program. He didn’t get into a game until Oct. 25 against the BYU Cougars, making an appearance in four consecutive games.

That put his redshirt eligibility in danger. Freshmen can play in four regular season games and maintain the ability to redshirt, adding a fifth year of eligibility to play. It was one of the big questions heading into the Cyclones’ regular season finale against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Given how many injuries the team was dealing with, Patterson had become a part of the rotation in the secondary. However, he was not on the field with the team during its 20-13 victory in Stillwater.

It was fair to assume the coaching staff didn’t want to burn a year of eligibility on a single game. However, it was being reported right before kickoff that Patterson wouldn’t be taking the field because he was no longer a part of the Iowa State football program.

"Yeah, I don't know. That would probably be a great question for Josh someday. But, obviously, we wish him the best,” head coach Matt Campbell said, via Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert, part of the 247Sports Network.

Joshua Patterson played prominent role down stretch for Iowa State

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Patterson ends his Cyclones career playing 114 total defensive snaps across four contests. Against the Cougars a few weeks ago, he recorded a pass breakup in the end zone.

Had he remained with the team, Patterson would have been able to play in the bowl game. Any games held after the regular season, whether it be conference championships or bowls, do not count toward the four-game maximum to retain redshirt eligibility.

The assumption is that he is entering the transfer portal. He would be the second member of the Iowa State football team to do so after Markell Chapman shared his intentions of doing so a few weeks ago.