Pryor looks to lend his hands to UW offense
MADISON – Kendric Pryor, like most wide receivers, would love to touch the football.
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t want the ball,” Wisconsin’s redshirt junior wide receiver said.
Yet Pryor, who hasn’t gotten as many touches through five games this season as he did in 2018, isn’t going to demand the ball.
“For us to be a great team, you’ve got to do your part,” he said. “I might have to run somebody off or make a block. To have a great team, each player has to do their 1/11th.”
UW (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) is third in the Big Ten in scoring at 43.4 points per game as it prepares to host Michigan State (4-2, 2-1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
The offense, save for a sluggish performance against Northwestern, has been humming.
Quintez Cephus leads the team in catches (17) and receiving yards (263) and is the only wide receiver with a touchdown catch (two).
Tailback Jonathan Taylor leads the team in touches with 115 – 103 rushes for 745 yards and 12 touchdowns and 12 catches for 114 yards and four touchdowns.
“We’ve got so many weapons on offense,” Pryor said. “And J.T., almost every time he touches it he is doing big things. When he gets that close, you almost want to say it’s guaranteed he is going to score.
“It's kind of hard for us to get the passing game going. But I'm not complaining because we're 5-0.”
Yet UW offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph recently noted he would like to get Pryor more involved in the offense.
“Nothing more than when the opportunities show up for him,” Rudolph said this week. “He brings such a spark at times. I'm excited to see that again.
“Sometimes it is just the ball coming your way. I think he keeps grinding and he'll show up big.”
Pryor in his first two seasons rushed 17 times for 169 yards, an average of 10.5 yards per carry. Three of those runs went for touchdowns – a 25-yarder against Iowa in 2017, a 32-yarder against Michigan one week later and a 33-yarder last season against Michigan.
He caught 36 passes for 452 yards, an average of 12.6 yards per catch, and four touchdowns in his first two seasons.
Through five games this season, Pryor has seven catches for 105 yards and one run for 6 yards.
“We do feel confident with him (but) we do have more depth there,” head coach Paul Chryst said of the wide receiver corps. “And yet we all know it. You're going to need everyone. When do they come? You don't know.
“But absolutely he is a guy who has proven he can make plays and make plays consistently. I'm confident it will come
“For us to be at our best we need him to be at his best. He is a guy that needs to contribute for us.”
Pryor isn't keeping track of his individual stats. He has always been a willing an effective blocker for the backs. He doesn't jog through his routes. He has no plans to let up.
“You don't want to be pouting and jogging and not doing what is right because that shows up on film,” he said. “And then when they do throw you the ball, you're not ready for it.
“You always have to be ready for that moment…I'm going to keep doing my job, keep doing what I've been doing and when my number is called make the best of that opportunity.”