USC WR Kyle Prater Leaning Towards Northwestern

by Rodger Sherman on Jan 20, 2012 10:25 AM CST in Northwestern Wildcats Football Recruiting

!!!

We heard the rumor USC's Kyle Prater was transferring, and that Northwestern was one of the schools on his list. And my eyes rolled as they had so many times before hearing about blue chip recruits putting Northwestern on their list of potential schools only to decide on, like, Stanford.

Well, the former five-star is purportedly really looking at Northwestern. Like, really, really looking at Northwestern. He says the school is his front-runner, Northwestern is the only school he is taking an official visit to, he has already cleared admissions to get in to Northwestern, and Pat Fitzgerald and Mick McCall have made visits to make it clear the interest is mutual.

I mean, this is awesome. Remember Northwestern's last five-star recruit? Oh yeah, right, Northwestern has never had one. Remember Northwestern's last highly-touted wide receiver? Oh yeah, again, never had one. Instead, Northwestern has turned low-star - Jeremy Ebert or no-star - Zeke Markshausen - recruits into top-notch receiving threats year after year after year. So, this whole Kyle Prater thing... well, we're excited. I don't fully know Prater's reasons for transferring - he says he wants to be closer to home, and only had one reception in two years (one a redshirt) at USC - but, well, we'll all take it.

Prater says he'll make his decision in the next two weeks, and, well, we're eagerly awaiting it. (It's less creepy when he's already in college.

Tweet Comment 10 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

This is how to win a Big Ten Championship.

That is the goal, should be the goal, and this is the way to achieve that.

I hope this happens, b/c this is would be another shot of optimism this offseason.

Next year could be bad again, but after that, look out.

by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Jan 20, 2012 10:32 AM CST reply actions

Encouraging

Regardless of whether he does well at NU or even comes to NU, it never hurts to have a highly-touted recruit talk us up, especially so soon after Odenigbo’s commitment— I’ve got to think that if I’m a top-tier recruit, I want to play with other top-tier recruits, too, and this gets us noticed.

Plus, it’s never bad for recruiting to see quotes like this (from the Scout article):

"Coach Fitz is a really great guy and he’s one of the best coaches in the Big Ten," Prater said.
.
“He’s a great guy, he’s a competitor. I love his energy He’s a player’s coaches and what player wouldn’t want to play for that.”

I’m betting that gets forwarded to everyone on the 2013 recruiting list. (Note that this is not intended to rekindle any discussion of Fitz’s merits as a coach, because it’s Friday and we all need a break.)

by TDozer on Jan 20, 2012 11:30 AM CST reply actions 1 recs

Y'all have short memories

This is super awesome, but before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s not forget Jovan Witherspoon. He was a highly-rated (Lemming had him #25 overall, which was likely a top 3 WR), big, fast receiver transferring from a tradtional power (Notre Dame). He ended up with 12 career receptions, only playing in 2001 and subsequently transferring to Central Michigan. I was a frosh at the time while the ‘Cats obviously excelled with jitterbugs like Simmons, Schweighart and Johnson, everyone got really hyped up about Witherspoon as a David Terrell-like deep threat. He even got a round of applause in class (Alfred Appel’s American Lit, RIP). So be wary of expectations, because that let down hurt, especially during the painful 2001 and 2002 seasons.

This isn’t to imply that Prater will work out the same way, only to illustrate that even in situations that seem like a perfect fit, transfers don’t always work out the way you hope. Here’s hoping the Prater story turns out differently!

by teb7 on Jan 20, 2012 1:05 PM CST reply actions

i'll admit to having a short memory

i was 11 and hadn’t heard of northwestern at the time.

by Rodger Sherman on Jan 20, 2012 2:01 PM CST up reply actions

There goes my illusion

That you have memorized every fact about NU football :(

by teb7 on Jan 20, 2012 2:11 PM CST up reply actions

i'm pretty sure

he writes about football just so he can write about basketball

by pfoley on Jan 20, 2012 2:17 PM CST up reply actions

nahhh

i love football. i just got kinda not into it this year when things were looking bad, and happen to be a lot more knowledgeable and better at writing about basketball.

by Rodger Sherman on Jan 20, 2012 2:18 PM CST up reply actions

this is why

i like fitz.

matthew0

by matthew0 on Jan 20, 2012 3:18 PM CST reply actions

Don't sell other people short

This is great news about Prater and you’re right to be excited by it. But to say we’ve never had a highly touted WR recruit before? We had one who played this year as a true freshman – Christian Jones was a four-star WR recruit. Granted, he wasn’t held in quite the same regard as Prater was, but there are a lot of top schools that he turned down to come to NU.

Going back in time, Jon Schweighardt never excited anyone for his physical talents, but he came to NU as the most productive high school WR in Illinois state history up until that time (state records for career receiving yards, and single season yards and TDs).

And there was another guy named D’Wayne Bates that was no slouch either.

by Orval Overall on Jan 20, 2012 3:32 PM CST reply actions