Van Patten comes off the ball with excellent knee bend and low hips. His lower half allows him to consistently get his pad level below his opponents. Being a center, that makes him effective against nose tackles where leverage and a quick first step often determines who wins the one-on-one match-up. Once he squares up an interior defender, he often mauls defenders and grinds them into the ground. Those low hips also lead to him naturally anchoring low and quickly in pass protection. Van Patten is a great finisher. Once he gets a defender moving backward, he is on him until the whistle. His quickness makes him an effective reach blocker – when he needs to get outside to cut off a defensive tackle lined up on the guard.

A compact 6′, 230 lb. blocker coming from the always well-coached and competitive Orono Spartans in Long Lake, Van Patten primarily played OC and was a tank once he got his hands on an opponent. Very hard to disengage from, Van Patten plays with a low pad level, great hand placement, and strong leg drive, not to mention a great motor that doesn’t quit between the whistles. Also has some solid reps of him pulling, cross-blocking, and cutting off defensive lineman. Strong run blocker at this point in time and a lineman I would not want to let get hands on me. Keep up the great work, Blake!