AUSTIN, Texas – Kaden Prather was a four-star prospect coming out of Maryland’s Washington D.C. suburbs, who received approximately 30 scholarship offers, mostly from Power Five Conference programs.
Prather verbally committed to West Virginia University in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Only one program offered Prather a scholarship between his verbal commitment in June of that year and when he put pen to paper to make his commitment official to WVU on December 16, 2020.
And that offer came from then-University of Texas head football coach Tom Herman in October 2020.
On Saturday, Prather made his first trip to Austin as a collegiate student-athlete and reached a couple of milestones in a 38-20 loss to the host Longhorns before a crowd of 100,740.
Prather recorded a career-high eight receptions — after a trio of consecutive six reception games. He also caught his first touchdown pass against a Football Bowl Series (FBS) opponent and his second overall this season.
Quarterback J.T. Daniels connected with Prather on an eight-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds in the first half as the Mountaineers cut the Longhorns’ halftime lead to 28-7.
“That was a really nice route and a nice throw by J.T.,” said Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown. “He’s been getting better. He’s been our most consistent player the last few weeks, and he’s really coming into his own. He’s going to continue to get better.”
Prather is one of the first players whom Brown recruited. He took an unofficial visit to West Virginia as a high school junior — oddly enough during a game against Texas — just a week after receiving an offer from powerhouse Alabama.
Through five games, Prather has 28 receptions, for 260 yards and two touchdowns, which is more than the 175 receiving yards he had as a true freshman.
He has three games of 50 or more receiving yards this season — a feat he accomplished only once in 2021.
Prather has the second most receptions and third most yards this season, and he’s earned the respect of fellow WVU receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton, who leads the team with 35 receptions for 412 yards and four touchdowns.
“People around the country are starting to notice Kaden,” Ford-Wheaton said. “I know all of the work he’s put into this program to reach his full potential.”
— Story by Michael Sudhalter
