College football prospect Zain Prater, a Norman North High School senior, has always had a servant’s heart. He’s an active member of Lunch Crew.

“Basically, it’s a club where we have lunch once a week and we hangout with students who have special needs,” Prater said, “so we will eat with them, then go play games like basketball or throw a football with them, just kind of whatever they want to do. We talk and just all have a good time together.

“They are all nice kids, and seeing how happy they are when some friends show up or people talk to them is just nice, and I have formed a friendship with a few kids there, too, so it’s just like hanging with friends,” Prater said.

Prater, a wide receiver prospect, holds offers from MidAmerica Nazarene University and Eastern New Mexico. As he enters the next chapter of his football career, he wants to continue to pay his good fortune forward through volunteer work.

“It’s something I enjoy, so wherever I go, I want to find something I can do to get involved,” Prater said. “I’m planning on playing. I haven’t committed anywhere, but I’m talking to a few schools I like. . . I’m not 100% sure, just somewhere I can have fun and play football.”

Known for his surefire hands and sharp rout-running, Prater had a career to be proud of at Norman North. He also runs track for the Timberwolves in the spring. This season, Prater helped the Timberwolves football team to a 9-3 overall record and an appearance in the state quarterfinals. Head coach Justin Jones recently called Prater a “workhorse” at the receiver position.

“I feel like I’m best any time I get the ball in my hands, but I also think a pretty physical player, which is another strong suit,” Prater said.

It may be hard to believe today, but Prater’s career almost never started. His mother (whom Prater now considers one of his greatest supporters) did not want him to play, but his dad signed him up in the fifth grade.

“I kinda picked it up naturally, then in seventh grade, while I played football for Irving [Middle School], I traveled down to Texas every weekend to play for a travel team called the NTX Cowboys. I spent two seasons with them, then my freshman year, I played at Norman High, but I transferred after the season.

My sophomore year, I switched positions to WR and was a backup but rotated some with a senior there.

“Then, my senior season, I started at outside receiver and played the whole season there,” Prater said.

Prater has not picked a major but is “interested in cyber security.”