On Tuesday afternoon, the University of Utah announced the school’s men’s basketball roster for the 2025-26 season, and it included a name that previously hadn’t been linked to the school publicly.
The Runnin’ Utes, who will look vastly different in Alex Jensen’s first season as head coach due to roster turnover, have added German shooting guard Jacob Patrick for next season.
Who is Jacob Patrick?
Patrick is a 21-year-old shooting guard who hails from Ludwigsburg, Germany.
The 6-foot-6, 192-pounder played five seasons with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in the German Basketball Bundesliga, Germany’s top pro basketball league.
This past season, he averaged 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 23.9 minutes per game.
During the 2023-24 season, he was one of two players in the BBL to shoot better than 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and 90% from the free-throw line.
Patrick suited up for the German Senior National Team in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers, and while playing for the German U16 team at the 2019 FIBA European Championships, Patrick averaged 9.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
Patrick will be a freshman at Utah this season.
Two summers ago, he committed to and signed with VCU, though that ended up being short-lived, as he decided to stay in Germany. At that time, ESPN rated him as a four-star basketball prospect, with an 81 scout grade.
Patrick is the son of John Patrick, who played collegiately at Stanford before going on to a 13-year pro career in Japan and Germany. He coached MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg for nine seasons.
How is Utah basketball’s 2025-26 roster shaping up?
With Jacob Patrick’s addition, the Utes officially have 12 players on the roster for next season as of now, including nine newcomers.
That’s a group that also includes Terrence Brown, Babacar Faye, Jahki Howard, Don McHenry, Elijah “Choppa” Moore, James Okonkwo, Kendyl Sanders and Seydou Traore.
Keanu Dawes and Ibi Traore are returning, as is Jerry Huang, a walk-on at Utah the past two seasons who previously had entered the transfer portal.
Last week, Elmeri Abbey, a Finnish point guard, announced his commitment to Utah, though he does not currently appear on the roster for Utah next season. KSL Sports’ Steve Bartle reported that Abbey is currently fulfilling mandatory service in the Finnish Army and will join the Utes later this summer.
With Abbey’s expected addition, that would make 13 roster spots filled, with the possibility of two more scholarship players.
Other roster news
In announcing Utah’s basketball roster, it’s also noted that Dawes became the first University of Utah student-athlete to sign a revenue share agreement.
Last Friday’s watershed House vs. NCAA settlement paved the way for schools to directly pay athletes. The settlement goes into effect July 1.