The plan for Kyle Prater was to graduate early from Proviso West High School, enroll in spring-semester classes at the University of Southern California this week and participate in the Trojans’ spring football drills. 
Kyle Prater, Proviso West
File photo by John Rowland
Solid.
Then, USC head coach Pete Carroll left Los Angeles this week to become coach of the NFL‘s Seattle Seahawks.
Suddenly, one of the nation‘s most highly recruited wide receivers was nearly a month out of high school graduation, not attending college and not even sure which college he would attend.
So, instead of heading to Los Angeles from the U.S. Army All-American Game in San Antonio, Texas, to enroll in classes, Prater went home to Chicago to virtually begin the recruiting process all over again. USC was history.
Not so fast. College football‘s topsy-turvy world resulted in Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin bolting the Vols for USC as its next head coach Wednesday despite only being at Tennessee for one year. And since Kiffin had tried to recruit Prater from the Tennessee side, Prater may be heading for USC, anyway, but apparently without even talking to the new coach.
"Kyle is excited about Lane Kiffin being hired to be USC’s next football coach. We haven’t talked to coach Kiffin yet, but in all likelihood, Kyle will be enrolled (at USC) next week," Proviso West football coach Famous Hulbert told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday.
In addition to USC, Prater‘s visits this fall were to Notre Dame, which also had a coaching change, and Illinois. New Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly reportedly made a push after Prater once Kelly was named to replace Charlie Weis in December, but Prater insisted his commitment to USC at the time was solid. Oklahoma and Tennessee also heavily recruited Prater until he committed to USC in the middle of the high school season, then declared two weeks later it was a "soft" commitment and took a visit to Notre Dame while Weis was still in South Bend, after which he more solidly committed to USC.
National signing day is less than a month away: Feb. 3.
Prater led Proviso West to its first-ever Illinois Class 8A playoff berth this year, and the Panthers won a first-round game. He had three catches for 32 yards in the All-American Bowl.
Meanwhile, the Kiffin move may have cost the Vols an offensive lineman, Zach Fulton of Homewood-Flossmoor. Fulton, a 6-foot-6 guard who tips the scales at 306 pounds and committed to Tennessee last June, told the Sun-Times he intends to take recruiting trips the next two weekends to Nebraska and Louisiana State. Fulton is a younger brother of Tampa Bay Bucs offensive tackle Xavier Fulton.
Around Chicagoland: Young hosts MLK Dream Classic
* The annual MLK Dream Classic, to be played on two basketball courts at Whitney Young High School on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, will provide hoops, hoops and more hoops for prep basketball fans. In all, 38 boys and girls games will be played. High schools from six states will send teams, including the Westbury Christian boys team of Houston; the University City girls of Philadelphia and the North High School and Patrick Henry boys teams of Minneapolis. It‘ll even feature an elementary-school game between Smyth Elementary and Beasly Elementary at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Louisville recruit Wayne Blackshear, a junior, will lead Morgan Park against Westbury Christian at 5 p.m. Saturday. Other featured games include North Lawndale (12-3), a Class 3A semifinalist last year, facing Crete-Monee at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and North Chicago meeting Marshall at 4 p.m. Sunday. Young, the defending Class 4A boys champ and ranked No. 25 in MaxPreps' Xcellent 25, are not in the tournament; instead, the Dolphins go on the road to Dayton, Ohio, to face Dunbar High School on Sunday. Young is the alma mater of First Lady Michelle Obama.
* The McDonald’s Shootout, a three-day tournament at Willowbrook High School beginning Friday and going through Monday, will feature the best of the Chicago area’s girls basketball teams. Bolingbrook, ranked No. 9 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and last year‘s Class 4A champ, will play Montini, each with just one loss, at 6 p.m. Saturday. Unbeaten Geneva, a 4A semifinalist last year, will play Hillcrest, which has won 16 straight, at 1 p.m. Saturday. Unbeaten and 4A runner-up Whitney Young will play Carmel, Ind., at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, then head to St. Louis for a Monday game in the St. Louis MLK Shootout. Wheeling will also play Carmel, at 10:30 a.m. Monday. Host Willowbrook will tip off the tournament by facing Regina Dominican at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
* North Chicago‘s boys basketball team won its 33rd consecutive North Suburban Prairie game, defeating Vernon Hills, 63-56. The Warhawks are 5-0 in league play this season and 9-4 overall. Aaron Simpson scored 18 points.
* Glenbard East’s boys basketball squad is off to a 5-0 start in the DuPage Conference, and 13-1 overall. Jon Hill scored a game-high 24 points in a 64-52 win over Naperville North on Saturday. The Rams will host West Aurora on Friday night.
* Two coaches from Barrington High School, tennis coach Tracy Waters Miller and golf coach Jodi Schoeck, were among 21 National Coaches of the Year named by the National Federation of State High School Association’s Coaches Association.
Notable performers
* Aaron Johnson scored 19 points, outscoring teammate and Illinois recruit Jereme Richmond by seven, in Waukegan’s 63-54 win Saturday over Springfield Southeast in the AthletiCare Sports Radio 1450 Shootout in Springfield. Johnson was also MVP at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament won by Waukegan (13-3).
* Mundelein‘s Ben Brust, an Iowa recruit, scored a game-high 37 points in an 80-71 win over Zion-Benton. Ohio State recruit Lenzelle Smith of Zion-Benton scored 29.
* Jordan Rettig, a senior at Rosary, is closing in on 1,500 career points, and is already the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,483 points. She intends to play basketball at Washington University in St. Louis, the NCAA Division III runner-up.
* Hinsdale Central wrestler Jack Allen won for the 25th time in 26 matches, pinning Carmel’s Steve Lester to win the 285-pound title at the Geneva Jim Newbill Invitational. Allen was runner-up in the Class 3A state championships last year.
On deck
Benet Academy girls (11-6) at Bolingbrook (11-1), 5:30 p.m. Thursday: This is a rematch of a sectional semifinal won last year by Class 4A champion Bolingbrook.
Glenbrook North boys (12-2) at Deerfield (13-1): Both teams are 4-0 in the CSL. The game matches Notre Dame recruit Alex Dragicevich of Glenbrook North against Wisconsin recruit Duje Dukan of Deerfield.
Paul Bowker, a sports journalist for 25 years who has worked at newspapers nationwide, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.
