After posting a whopping 3,392 all-purpose yards and setting multiple NFL records, you would think Cordarrelle Patterson would have established himself as a top-notch receiver in his first two seasons.
But the versatile 6-foot-2, 220-pound wide out knows he’s facing a make-or-break year in 2015, which is why he’s spent an entire month working out in San Francisco with a fitness expert known as “Hell’s trainer.”
His first workout with the trainer, Frank Matrisciano, only lasted 14 minutes, “but it felt like an hour and a half,” Patterson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “The first time I got there, it was the hardest thing I ever went through — not in life, but working out-wise. It was hard mentally. You’ve got to set your mind aside, because you’re going there to the good weather and hills.”
Matrisciano says that many bail after the initial trial run, but Patterson kept pushing himself.
“When he first got here, like anyone else, he was taken aback by it a little bit. But he adapted to it and gradually worked into it,” Matrisciano said. “He did a great job.”
By the end of his grueling month of workouts — which included sprinting up steep staircases on the cliffs and running over sand dunes with a weighted vest strapped to his chest — Patterson’s sessions lasted upwards of 50 minutes.
“Night and day,” Matrisciano said. “For him to come back after what he did here in the beginning, it shows me a lot. He wants to get better and better.”
Matrisciano is a rouge figure in the fitness industry. He doesn’t own a gym. He doesn’t recruit or have a website, either. A former strength and conditioning basketball coach for the University of Memphis, Matrisciano also refuses to be photographed by publications, “either turning his back to the camera or wearing what looks like a ninja mask,” per the Star Tribune.
But he clearly knows what he’s doing, having worked with everyone from boxers and NBA All-Stars Blake Griffin and Zach Randolph to SWAT teams and special ops military personnel.
Patterson, who has also worked out in Los Angeles with some his teammates this offseason — including promising quarterback Teddy Bridgewater — plans to spend another month with Matrisciano between the end of the Vikings’ workout program in June and the start of training camp in late July.
“I feel like everything he is doing is going to help me with my game,” Patterson said. “Working out with him helped me mentally and physically. I can’t wait to get back.”
The Vikings are pleased with Patterson’s initiative to train with Matrisciano and a former NFL receiver “whose identity neither the Vikings or Patterson will reveal,” according to the Star Tribune.
With the impressive emergence of Charles Johnson and offseason additions of Mike Wallace and rookie Stefon Diggs, Patterson knows he has to make significant strides in order to get his promising career on track.
“I feel like this year is going to be the year. It will make me or break me,” Patterson said. “This whole offseason, I spent a lot of time just thinking to myself, ‘How can I get better?'”
Vikings GM Rick Spielman also recently praised Patterson for having “grown up a lot” this offseason.
An All-Pro kick returner as a rookie, Patterson is the first and only player in league history to have a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown, a 75-yard TD catch and a 50-yard rushing score in the same season.
He’s appeared in every game since entering the league as a 2013 first round pick (No. 29 overall) out of Tennessee, but has started just 13 contests. The 24-year-old has established himself as one of the league’s best return specialists with 2,264 yards and two touchdowns on 77 kickoffs (29.4 YPR) in his first two seasons.
But he’s struggled with route running and getting in and out of his breaks, which has led to very disappointing production (78 receptions for 853 yards and five touchdowns) in the receiving game. He’s also rushed for 275 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries, boasting an eye-popping 12.5 yards per carry out of the backfield.
Check out a series of interesting videos below related to the Minnesota Vikings.
Stay tuned to GridironGrit.com for more post-draft news and analysis on the Vikings and the entire NFL.
Also follow @_MichaelGartman on Twitter and be sure to ‘like’ Gridiron Grit on Facebook.
The post Cordarrelle Patterson Working Out With ‘Hell’s Trainer’ appeared first on GridironGrit.com.