Posted by bambi2godzilla on 1/12/2008, 9:30 pm
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Ben Lomond's Prather to showcase skills at Hula Bowl
Jim Seimas
Santa Cruz Sentinel
January 12, 2008
Waylon Prather drew little interest as a senior football standout at San Lorenzo Valley High.
But that likely won't happen again as the San Jose State University punter attempts to draw interest from the next level.
The Ben Lomond native will handle punting and holding duties for the West squad in tonight's Hula Bowl game in Honolulu, a showcase game heavily attended by NFL scouts.
"It's really rewarding," Prather said in a call from Hawaii on Wednesday. "My hard work has paid off thus far. I've always tried to get better each day."
Prather -- a former four-sport standout in high school and Santa Cruz County's Male Athlete of the Year in 2002 -- went unrecruited by college coaches out of high school.
He walked onto the Spartans football program five years ago and redshirted his freshman year.
In November, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior finished his SJSU career with a pair of second-place finishes on the school's all-time lists -- 9,390 career yards, and a 43.9 yards-per-kick average in his junior season.
He also booted a career-long 72-yard punt at the University of Nevada in 2006.
There are three senior all-star games, meaning six total spots for punters, and Prather has one of them. More impressive is the fact his overall 39.52 yards-per-kick average was ranked 80th in the nation.
"Numbers are slanted any way you want," said Keith Burns, the Spartans' special teams coach. "We graduated a veteran coverage group. Take him punting the ball, it was as good a year as he's ever had. I don't think he did a whole lot to disappoint. On some of the longer punt returns, he was a violent tackler."
Prather is impressive on and off the field, said his agent Jill Baxter McBride.
That's important because Prather will be evaluated by scouts not only for his skills but also for his personality.
"I could tell right away he was a great kid," said McBride, who has worked as an agent since 1988. "When I met him, he already had a plan to get ready for this part of his life. He has no character flaws. Also, he's mentally very tough."
Prather said he was drawn to McBride because she has long history working with kickers and special teams coaches. McBride's father, Ron, a longtime Utah football coach who now leads Weber State, and her husband, John Baxter, the associate head coach at Fresno State.
"She knows everyone there is to know in regards to special teams," Prather said.
McBride has already sent films to the majority of teams in the NFL, with the exception of teams undergoing coaching changes.
Only three punters were drafted last year and two the year before. It's more likely that Prather will sign a free-agent contract after the draft.
But who knows, McBride said.
"He has all the things they want," she said.
Prather, essentially, sells himself with his size, athleticism and mentality, she said.
Burns said Prather is more of an athlete than the position requires.
"The biggest thing about him is what an athlete he is," Burns said. "Punting is such a specific skill. But there are a lot of positions he could be and make real contributions if he put his focus on it.
"He could've been a back-up quarterback, a tight end, if he ate and lifted more ... He's the furthest away from what you perceive a punter to be."
Prather has plenty of selling points, but perhaps the biggest was his ability to start from scratch.
He talked his mother into letting him play football as a high school freshman. He told her he would only handle kicking duties and that kickers don't get tackled. It was too late when she realized he was more involved -- playing linebacker and tight end -- than he initially led on.
"It was too late then," he said. "I was hooked."
His senior year, he was a back-up quarterback, tight end, linebacker, kicker and punter, helping the Cougars go 13-0 to win the Central Coast Section Division IV title. In addition to scoring 11 touchdowns and kicking two field goals, he booted a county-record 52 extra points.
And Prather has never had a kicking coach.
"One-hundred percent," he said when asked if he was self-taught.
In fact, he taught himself his best weapon this year. He said it's called an "Aussie kick," and the ball basically dies or has backspin on impact with the ground. With it, Prather pinned 24 of his 62 punts inside opponents' 20-yard lines this year.
The "Aussie kick" is gaining popularity in the NFL and seldom appears on the college scene.
"You just don't see that," Burns said. "During warm-ups before games, it was funny to see opposing coaches standing in a line and timing things, and see so many of the guys take recognition of that."
Prather is unaware of his hang time -- he said he nearly hit the rafters at Idaho's indoor facility, from his perspective. Most of his punts are directional kicks, used to keep the ball away from fleet-footed and otherwise explosive returners.
He's proven to be one of the best punters in the nation.
But there are going to be plenty of athletes on the field today -- and every Sunday in the NFL for that matter. Prather isn't stressed.
Playing golf, which is what he plans to do during the NFL draft, taught him a valuable lesson.
"You can't try and kick it further," he said. "But you can try and have better form and contact. And it will go farther. It's like golf. You need to be more relaxed."
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