ARLINGTON, Tex. — While the Cincinnati Bearcats made their first appearance at Big 12 media days Thursday ahead of the program’s inaugural season in the conference, first-year head coach Scott Satterfield announced that quarterback Evan Prater has moved to the wide receiver position.
- Prater, the former Ohio Mr. Football and four-star recruit out of Cincinnati’s Wyoming High School, is entering his fourth year with the Bearcats. He is the program’s highest-rated recruit in the 247Sports era.
- The redshirt junior started the final two games of 2022 after starting quarterback Ben Bryant suffered a season-ending foot injury. The Bearcats lost to Tulane in the regular-season finale with a chance to reach the AAC championship game, and then lost to Louisville in the Fenway Bowl following the departure of head coach Luke Fickell.
- Prater, a dual-threat quarterback, has made 10 career appearances for the Bearcats, passing for 461 yards and running for another 275 yards with six combined touchdowns and two interceptions.
Why Prater made the move
Despite his athleticism and lofty recruiting rankings, Prater has struggled to develop and never earned a starting role for Cincinnati. His performances late last season and a shoulder injury this spring pushed him down the quarterback depth chart once again behind transfer and expected starter Emory Jones, among others.
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“The big thing for him this spring is that his shoulder wasn’t completely healthy. But he’s a great athlete, we want to get him on the field, so what’s the best way to get him on the field? Let’s move him to wide receiver,” Satterfield told The Athletic. “He was all about it, and once we made that move, he’s 100 percent at wide receiver, he’s been meeting with them, training with them, and he’s looked really good.”
What will Prater’s role look like for Cincinnati this season?
The Bearcats have completely overhauled a wide receivers group that returns only one scholarship player from last year’s roster. Cincinnati added a slew of transfers, including Dee Wiggins (Louisville), Donovan Ollie (Washington State), Xzavier Henderson (Florida), Aaron Turner (UConn) and Braden Smith (Louisville). Satterfield expects Prater to step in and contribute immediately alongside that group.
“I’m excited about the fact that he wants to play and get on the field, and so are his teammates,” said Satterfield. “He has great respect in the locker room from the rest of his teammates. He is a very good athlete with great size. What you don’t know is can he run around and catch? Well, we’ve seen that now. He can. He’ll help us. He’ll help us in the first game.”
Satterfield, who has a track record as an innovative offensive play caller, anticipates utilizing Prater in some creative ways.
“Not just playing as a split-end receiver, but maybe being able to motion him, do some things in the backfield. There are a lot of options when you have a guy with his ability,” said Satterfield. “We could potentially put him the wildcat, motion him in the backfield, hand him the ball. A lot of different things we can do with him. He’s very athletic.”
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(Photo: Joe Robbins / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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