Evan Prater enters his fourth season with the Bearcats, but this season is looking for a lot different after making the hard transition from quarterback to wide receiver this offseason. Prater, a former Mr. Ohio football award winner is currently rated the highest offensive player in program history in terms of recruiting rankings after a stellar high school career at Wyoming High School.
However, for Prater, the once highly coveted quarterback has now flipped the page in his playing career as he looks to take the Big 12 by storm this season after converting to a wide receiver this past offseason, due to a nagging shoulder injury that has bothered him since the middle of the 2022 season. “Halfway through the 2022 season, my shoulder started to bother me. Once the season was over, I tried to rehab and it just never got better. I went and talked with the coaches, and it was either get surgery or switch positions, and at that time all I wanted to do was get on the field and help this team in any way possible,” Prater said.
We have seen many quarterbacks make the transition to wide receiver in recent years in the NFL, some that come to mind former Ohio State standouts Braxton Miller, Terrelle Pryor and New England Patriots star Julian Edelman. However, for Evan Prater, the transition looks seamless due to his physical attributes. It is not every day, you see a 6’4″, 208-pound quarterback make the transition to wide receiver, but for Prater his natural athletic abilities are something that plays to his advantage.
Prater was a dual sport athlete during his high school career at Wyoming High School where he not only dominated on the football field, but on the hardwood as well. Prater was a key contributor for Wyoming’s basketball team as well throughout high school playing career.
