How impressive has senior receiver Solomon Patton been for the No. 19 Gators in 2013?
Look at the numbers he has produced through three games this season compared to what he had done previously at Florida.
Patton caught three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown — a 52-yard swing pass that Patton caught, turned with up field, made a defender miss in open space and then proceeded to race down the sidelines — to help Florida beat Tennessee 31-17 on Saturday.
His receiving totals against the Volunteers give Patton 10 catches for 212 yards and a pair of touchdowns this season — solid numbers for mostly anyone but great statistics for someone as seldom-used as Patton had been prior to this season.
From 2010-2012, Patton had a total of eight catches for 79 yards with zero touchdowns. Much of his production came on the ground — via him being utilized on speed sweeps — as he carried the ball 15 times for 146 yards in three seasons.
This is what coach Will Muschamp had to say about Patton after the game:
“We challenged him, ‘Do you want to continue to just be a jet sweep guy, or do you want to be a major contributor to our football team?’ So, he worked on route running. He worked on letting us have the confidence to tailor some things after him.
“He’s a smaller guy, so there’s some different things he can’t do as far as some of the middle reads and things that are harder to through to a smaller guy, so let’s get really good at the routes that you can run. He mastered those throughout spring. He had a great summer and came in and had a really good camp.
“That to me, as much as anything, he saw an opportunity his senior year during his last go ‘round at the University of Florida, and ‘I’m going to take advantage of my opportunity,’ and he certainly did.”
Patton’s progress has made him perhaps Florida’s No. 1 receiver, though the Gators certainly have several viable options. In addition to Patton, Quinton Dunbar and Trey Burton have established themselves as playmakers on offense.
Dunbar has 13 catches for 183 yards this season; Burton has 14 grabs for 160 yards.
Here is what Patton, Dunbar and Burton had to say about UF’s group of receivers:
Patton: "We always have worked hard. We finally are getting those opportunities to where we're throwing the ball a lot more. I think we're doing really awesome."
Burton: “I’m pretty sure we were ranked the 10th wide receiver core in the Southeastern Conference. We took that to heart. We didn’t believe that. We thought we were a lot better than that, and we are trying to prove that.”
“We’ve just been growing confidence. Us three — me, [Patton] and Dunbar have been guys who have gotten reps in the past and caught balls in the past, so we’re just ready to step up and be the main guys now.”
Dunbar: “All offseason, we all worked hard to get better. I feel like we are getting better each and every week.”
Follow Phillip Heilman on Twitter @phillip_heilman.
Solomon Patton runs down the field after catching a pass during Florida’s 21-16 loss to Miami on Sept. 7 in Sun Life Stadium.
