Coach | 2022 LB Langston Patterson Would Be "Great Fit" At Notre Dame

Ingle Martin knows coaches say it all of the time about their own players, but the head coach at Christ Presbyterian Academy has been around the game enough and at high enough levels to know it when he sees it.

“He’s got the whole package,” Martin says of 2022 Tennessee linebacker Langston Patterson‍. “He’s almost a 4.0-student taking tough classes.

“When you’re watching his highlights from last year, he was like 190, 195. He’s already up to like 215. As a kid who is going to be a junior in high school and to already be 215 and be able to run the way he can and the way he plays with a natural ability to diagnose what the offense is running. You can’t really teach some of the things he does.

“Physically, he’s got everything you look for. He can diagnose quickly, he gets to the ball, he can make plays in space, which is what today’s defensive coordinators are looking for. He’s a great athlete.”

Martin played quarterback for three seasons at Florida before wrapping up his career with two successful seasons at Furman, which led to him being a fifth-round pick by the NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers in 2006. He then spent time with the Packers, Titans, Chiefs and Broncos.

He’s been the head coach at the private school in Nashville since 2011.

Patterson’s older brother, Kane, was an All-American at Christ Presbyterian coming out of the Class of 2019 and is now at Clemson. Martin noted how that’s helped Langston’s development.

“He grew up competing with him,” Martin said of Langston. “This quarantine has been unbelievable for him. Kane was told he couldn’t be at school anymore, so the entire quarantine, Langston was rubbing shoulders, waking up, working out with a guy who’s going to be competing to be Clemson’s starting linebacker this year.

“That kind of opportunity to compete against a Division-I/Power 5/Top 4 program in the country kid helped him.”

Martin is expecting even more from Patterson this fall.

“He’s a kid who leads, leads with his voice and his actions,” the coach says. “He’s a great teammate. The boys on the team love him. This year, he’ll have more of that leadership responsibility on our team. I know that he’s ready for it.

“The biggest thing is we play all of our guys both ways. Last year, Langston got to run it a little bit and he’ll be out there running it again this year. Again, he’s a great athlete who could probably play any position on offense for us. We’re excited and very, very blessed to have him.”

Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, Patterson hit a grand slam for the Christ Presbyterian baseball squad.

“He’d be a Division-I scholarship baseball prospect if he wanted to,” says Martin. “He’s got that. A couple coaches who reached out and offered him, said when they’re watching film, they feel like he’s one of the top five, top 10 inside linebackers in the country.”

Patterson recently added Notre Dame to an offer sheet that also includes Clemson, Auburn, LSU, Ohio State, Stanford, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt among several others.

Martin played high school ball with Irish defensive coordinator Clark Lea in high school at Montgomery Bell Academy.

“When a guy like Clark Lea, who has the résumé he has, pulls the trigger on a kid who is going to be a junior, I think you know he’s legit,” Martin says. “Honestly, I think Clark and Notre Dame and Coach (Brian) Kelly would be a great fit for Langston for the whole package.

“I know Langston is excited and wants to get up there this fall.”