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Former No. 1 WR prospect eligible at Northwestern

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08:18 AM ET 08.01 | Kyle Prater finally heard the answer he wanted from the NCAA. The USC transfer will suit up for Northwestern this fall after the NCAA on Tuesday approved his waiver request. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound receiver from Proviso West had been in limbo since announcing six months ago that he would return home. Prater appealed to the NCAA based on wanting to be near an ill relative he has not publicly identified. "My family is very important to me," Prater said in a news release. ... "Kyle has worked extremely hard to prepare himself for this season," NU coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "It's great that he will be rewarded for that effort." Rivals.com rated Prater the nation's No. 1 receiver in the Class of 2010.

Chicago Tribune

Pat Fitzgerald, Icon Sports Pat Fitzgerald, Icon Sports
August 1, 2012  08:46 AM ET

Good Luck Kyle! The Trojan Family wishes you a great season.

Comment #2 has been removed
August 1, 2012  10:55 AM ET

Kain Colter better get Big 10 good and stay Big Ten good and use Prater properly. Course all this depends on the increasing nut-job Fitzgerald to use all the parts properly.

August 1, 2012  11:36 AM ET
QUOTE(#3):

Kain Colter better get Big 10 good and stay Big Ten good and use Prater properly. Course all this depends on the increasing nut-job Fitzgerald to use all the parts properly.

WTFJJ?!?!

Need to change the batteries in my decoder ring for this one.....use his nutt parts properly?

August 1, 2012  12:24 PM ET
QUOTE(#4):

WTFJJ?!?!Need to change the batteries in my decoder ring for this one.....use his nutt parts properly?

Every year, NU starts out well and then falls apart. They don't get better, they get worse, losing to doormats in late October and November. Colter, a QB/receiver last year, has to match the level of Big 10 play at all levels, that's all, to earn a bowl bid. (I should have said "stay as good as Big Ten" in the original post.) All NU and "Fitz" want to do is go to a respectable bowl anyway - although they went to the "Meineke Car Care Bowl" last year. They know they can't win a title or even a division.

Fitzgerald, who seems to be "coach for life" now is a former rah-rah LB under Gary Barnett and stepped into head-coaching when Randy Walker bought it in 2006. He was LB coach and recruiter then and, for some reason, was vaulted into head coaching, probably by a team vote. For an LB coach, his defenses suck. He's pretty cuckoo, too: haircut's a little tight. His forte seems to be recruiting and gladding up the team. Not a good field general. Prater is gold, Colter is bronze, but "Fitz" will probably find a way to make them both Lead by the end of the season. And that's the view from Green Acres.

Comment #6 has been removed
August 1, 2012  01:42 PM ET

Barnett is a sleaze bag. Walker died at a most inopportune time. NW didn't have a whole lot of options when it elected to promote Pat Give-em-fits-gerald. At the time, most thought that Pee Eff was a temporary plug-in HC and that NW's PTB would woo an accomplished coach. Well, that didn't happen. It's Northwestern. The PTB would rather steal accomplished professors from land grant universities. Pat's teams play some exciting football (they look good losing). They've been invited to (and lost) a Bowl Game each of the past four seasons.

August 1, 2012  02:36 PM ET
QUOTE(#7):

Barnett is a sleaze bag. Walker died at a most inopportune time. NW didn't have a whole lot of options when it elected to promote Pat Give-em-fits-gerald. At the time, most thought that Pee Eff was a temporary plug-in HC and that NW's PTB would woo an accomplished coach. Well, that didn't happen. It's Northwestern. The PTB would rather steal accomplished professors from land grant universities. Pat's teams play some exciting football (they look good losing). They've been invited to (and lost) a Bowl Game each of the past four seasons.

Good post. Barnett: converted pool boy Buttermaker type opportunist. Walker: I thought a good guy. PF: meh, until increasing nutso-ness. (What's this about a state-of-the-art facility ON Lake Michigan just for precious football players? NU again? Jeez.) I didn't think the Wildcats looked very good losing in the "Meineke Care Care Bowl." Seemed inept on defense, Fitz's forte? Late time-consuming drive by A&M shouldn't have happened. And at that time of the year, you got to that on the coach.

 
August 1, 2012  03:11 PM ET

Prater is a good kid. Wish him well at his new home.

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