Carnegie Mellon's football team is in trouble. Kenyon College's defense has just made a big third-down stop for a loss of eight yards, which has the Tartans facing a fourth down from their own 27-yard line. Although the game is tied 7–7 midway through the second quarter, momentum isn't on the Tartans' side. The team's punter, Richard Pattison, takes the field, hoping to turn things around. He lines up the customary 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, peeks over to the sideline to check his coach's directional hand signals, and prepares for the snap. He takes note of the cold wind at his back, thinking it should help the ball sail along the right sideline.
The junior chemical engineering student knows he'll have about two seconds to execute his kick if he wants to avoid the punt rush. His motions must be efficient and precise, even under threat of a pancake tackle. Since fifth grade, he has been practicing this concentration, not seeing or hearing the defense, just focusing on the football.
"Set! Hike!"
The team's long snapper hikes it back to him chest high; he catches it cleanly and, with the speed of a magician, spins it so the laces face upward—just like he does for his 30 or so daily punts at practice. Next, he starts to move forward, striding with his right foot, then with his left as he swings back his right leg. He drops the ball to meet his swinging foot and knows by the feel of the pigskin hitting his cleat that he nailed his execution.
Pattison always strives to streamline processes, whether he's decked out in football pads or researching the efficiency of kidney dialysis. "The aspect of chemical engineering that interests me most involves researching and optimizing chemical processes, how to make them better," he says. In his mass-transfer class, the attentive, six-foot four-inch, 205-pound student is often found in the front row—his lanky legs sprawled out. On one occasion his professor, Kris Dahl, tripped over his feet. The incident became a running joke in the class, with Dahl kidding the star student that he almost brought the class to an abbreviated end.
On the field, Pattison's not slouching as his NFL-caliber punt keeps flying. The ball soars over the outstretched hands of the would-be returner. It hits the turf and keeps rolling end over end, finally coming to rest on the 5-yard line—a 68-yard punt that now has Kenyon pinned deep in their own territory. Momentum has just swung the Tartans' way, courtesy of Pattison's right foot. His energized teammates find their rhythm and go on to win the game 17–14.
The career-long punt was one of many game-changing plays that earned Pattison multiple honors this season, including First Team Academic All-America Special Teams selection, a repeat First Team All-UAA Special Teams selection, and the conference's Special Teams Athlete of the Week award on four separate weeks.
