Kevin Prentiss Moves Up to AFL After Three Record Seasons with Xplorers
October 10, 2005 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Memphis Xplorers News Release
SOUTHAVEN --- The man who holds 14 Memphis Xplorers franchise records is going to the city where if it happens there, it stays there. For Offensive Specialist Kevin Prentiss, he hopes he can stay in the AFL for good as he agreed to terms last week with the Las Vegas Gladiators for the 2006 AFL season.
"I am excited that Kevin Prentiss is finally getting the opportunity to play in the AFL," Xplorers Head Coach Danton Barto said. "I know that the Las Vegas Gladiators will be getting a great player and a great person."
The af2 is the developmental league for the Arena Football League (AFL).
Prentiss was one of the main components to an Xplorers team that won the 2005 ArenaCup Championship, won a franchise record 13 regular season games and led the af2 in points scored (55.8) and yards per play (7.0).
"Kevin Prentiss has been the most dominating player in af2 for the past two seasons," Barto, the 2005 af2 Coach of the Year said. "It will be a huge adjustment for this organization not to have number 12 on our team for the upcoming season."
This past season, his third with the Xplorers, Prentiss caught 103 passes for 1,627 yards and 40 touchdowns. He also added 1,419 yards and four touchdowns on kick returns. The former Mississippi State Bulldog is the franchise record-holder in 14 categories: career scoring (642 pts), career receptions (255), career touchdown receptions (106), career receiving yards (3953), career kick return yards (2685), single-season scoring (264 pts), single-season receptions (103-twice), single-season receiving yards (1623), single-season receiving touchdowns (40), single-season kick return yards (1419), single-season kick returns for touchdowns (8), single-game scoring (48 pts), single-game receiving yards (227) and single-game receiving touchdowns (6-twice).
Prentiss is a two-time All-af2 team member and has been in NFL training camps with the Indianapolis Colts in 1999 and New York Giants in 2000. This will not be his first venture into the AFL either, having played for the Carolina Cobras in 2002. The 28 year-old native of Vicksburg, Mississippi also played with the Memphis Maniax of the XFL in 2001.
In his career at Mississippi State, he caught 58 passes for 1,066 yards and five touchdowns. He finished fourth all-time in punt return average (12.4) and was Second-Team All-SEC as a punt returner in 1998.
Prentiss' departure doesn't come without some reflective words from his now former coach about what he has meant the Xplorers franchise.
"I can't describe what having Kevin here has done for this organization," Barto said. "I can only give him the biggest compliment that I can think of when someone asks me what I think of Kevin Prentiss, I tell them that he was the best football player I have ever coached. I know that when I turn on my television on Sundays and watch the AFL, that I will see Kevin making the same plays we have grown accustomed to in his time with the Xplorers."
Prentiss joins Dahnel Singfield, who signed last week with the New York Dragons, as 2005 Xplorers that have signed with an AFL team.
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