Michael Antonio Patterson (born September 1, 1983) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football for the USC Trojans. Early years Patterson is originally from Sacramento, California, but while visiting some family in Los Alamitos, California in between 8th and 9th grades, he decided to stay down there so that he could play football at Los Alamitos High School. He had decided this only after attending a summer football camp with his cousin Jorrel and enjoying the game very much. Patterson became a very good player even though he had never played at all prior to the summer camp. As a junior in high school, Patterson was named to the Long Beach Press-Telegram Dream Team second-team and All-Sunset League first-team honors. In his senior year, he earned Prep Star All-American, SuperPrep All-Far West, Prep Star All-Western Region, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best of the West second-team, Los Angeles Times All-Orange County, Orange County Register All-Orange County first-team, Long Beach Press-Telegram Dream Team first-team and All-Sunset League honors. College career USC defensive line coach Ed Orgeron recruited Patterson based on raw talent, and fought to sell the recruit on first-year head coach Pete Carroll, who eventually relented. For the USC Trojans, Patterson was a first-team All-American. Patterson played four years and helped win two National Championships with USC. He started for three years and played mainly as a nose tackle, but also a defensive tackle. During his senior year, Patterson was the subject of double coverage by many other teams. He was nicknamed "Baby Sapp" by Orgeron after former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who Orgeron had coached at the University of Miami. Patterson considered Sapp his idol for succeeding at a similar body type, and planned to emulate him. Patterson was a sociology major at USC. Professional career Philadelphia Eagles Patterson was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 31st overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft out of the University of Southern California. He started the 2005 season as second string, but started his first ever NFL game on September 25, 2005 when starter Darwin Walker was injured. When Walker returned to the lineup four games later, Patterson went back to second string. On December 11, 2005, Patterson was moved permanently to the starting left defensive tackle position and remained there.