King’s Fork rising senior linebacker Dominique Patterson verbally committed to a full scholarship offer to play football at Virginia Tech on Monday evening, two days after having the scholarship offer given to him by Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer during a one-day camp in Blacksburg.

Patterson’s commitment is a first for King’s Fork’s football program. Patterson would be the first Bulldog to play football for an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-A) school. King’s Fork is entering its sixth football season this coming fall.

Patterson, who measures 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, cannot sign a letter of intent until February 2010, but was one of a select few players to so impress Beamer and the Virginia Tech coaching staff this past weekend at a workout for rising seniors at VT.

“There were about 165 kids there and Dominique was one of three or four who were offered after the camp,” said King’s Fork head coach Joe Jones. Jones is a Virginia Tech alum and on the gridiron Jones was chosen to the Senior Bowl as a tight end in 1985.

“(Virginia Tech coaches) got to see him run, do a lot of drills and that kind of stuff,” said Jones, who said Virginia Tech coaches had seen film of Patterson from last season, Patterson’s junior year. For much of the season, Patterson played linebacker with a cast covering a broken wrist.

On Saturday, Jones said, Patterson clocked in at 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash, worked in linebacker drills with VT defensive coordinator Bud Foster and at the end of the day, Beamer asked Patterson and Jones into his office.

“He said there was no pressure to commit and he said to Dominique if he wanted to take his time, that would be fine. He was very good about that,” said Jones.

“Dominique talked with his parents and thought about it,” said Jones.

On Monday evening, Patterson called Virginia Tech assistant coach Curt Newsome to tell him about his verbal commitment.

In 2008-09, Virginia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship for the second straight season. The Hokies finished the season with a win in the Orange Bowl over Cincinnati, a 10-4 overall record and ranked No. 15 in the nation in the last Associated Press Poll.