Central Michigan University Athletics
Photo by: Jasper Warner '25 - @jasperwarnermedia
Prewitt's Time Comes, and he Makes the Most of It
9/28/2023 9:26:00 AM | Football
Wideout makes a huge splash with 10-catch, 142-yard performance
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Good things come to those who wait.
The wait was well worth it both for Jesse Prewitt III and the Central Michigan football team.
Prewitt had a coming-out party on Saturday in a 34-30 win at South Alabama as he made 10 catches for 142 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown. All three numbers are far and away career bests for the junior in his second year at CMU after transferring from NCAA Division II Wayne State.
And his timing was perfect as he played a critical role in an important win for CMU, which improved to 2-2 with the Mid-American Conference opener against Eastern Michigan set for Saturday, Sept. 30 (1:30 p.m.) on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
As is usually the case when a player has his first big game, it didn't just happen. The groundwork had been laid for quite some time.
At Northland High School in Columbus, Ohio, Prewitt drew interest from several MAC schools and Division II programs, though missing most of his junior year – generally considered the most important when it comes to the recruiting game – with an injury limited his visibility.
"My junior year I broke my wrist, so I missed the majority of that season," he said. "Then my senior year I had a pretty good year, but it probably wasn't enough to catch everybody's eyes that I wanted to."
He accepted a scholarship to Division II Wayne State in Detroit, where he redshirted as a freshman in 2019, had his season cancelled in 2020 because of COVID, and then caught 23 passes for 414 yards and three touchdowns in 2021.
Prewitt hit the portal and landed at CMU, where last season he saw the field sparingly while getting acclimated to Mount Pleasant, the step up to Football Bowl Subdivision, and, perhaps most importantly, teammate Jase Bauer, who on Saturday staked his claim as the Chippewas' starting quarterback after coming off the bench to lead the dramatic comeback victory.
"It took me a minute to transition and get the hang of things," Prewitt said. "After last season, I had a list of things that I knew I needed to work on, and I had to get better at. I just put my head down and continued to work."
Bauer, a sophomore, completed a career-high 19 passes against the Jaguars; 10 of them went to Prewitt.
"This past offseason, me and Jase put in many hours of work outside of practices, outside of workouts," Prewitt said. "That's probably where the connection was built. After the South Alabama game, I just remember him coming up to me and we're hugging each other and I told him, 'I told you our time was going to come! All the hard work, all the hours, eventually it was going to pay off.' Just to see that was amazing."
Prewitt showed signs of his potential in the Chippewas' previous two games. He caught a 32-yard touchdown pass, his first as a Chippewa, in a 45-42 win over New Hampshire and then had two catches for 59 yards before some 77,000 fans in a 41-17 loss at Notre Dame.
He also showed his dad, Jesse Jr., a Dayton, Ohio native who spent two years at Ohio State as a walk-on wide receiver in the early 1990s, that he had made it, in a manner of speaking.
"My dad was saying, 'I'm kind of tripping right now; you're here at Notre Dame,'" Prewitt said. "For me, (Notre Dame) was a confidence builder. I just wanted to go out there and show everybody what I'm made of. Just making those couple of catches, it was just a confidence boost for me."
The wait was well worth it both for Jesse Prewitt III and the Central Michigan football team.
Prewitt had a coming-out party on Saturday in a 34-30 win at South Alabama as he made 10 catches for 142 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown. All three numbers are far and away career bests for the junior in his second year at CMU after transferring from NCAA Division II Wayne State.
And his timing was perfect as he played a critical role in an important win for CMU, which improved to 2-2 with the Mid-American Conference opener against Eastern Michigan set for Saturday, Sept. 30 (1:30 p.m.) on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
As is usually the case when a player has his first big game, it didn't just happen. The groundwork had been laid for quite some time.
At Northland High School in Columbus, Ohio, Prewitt drew interest from several MAC schools and Division II programs, though missing most of his junior year – generally considered the most important when it comes to the recruiting game – with an injury limited his visibility.
"My junior year I broke my wrist, so I missed the majority of that season," he said. "Then my senior year I had a pretty good year, but it probably wasn't enough to catch everybody's eyes that I wanted to."
He accepted a scholarship to Division II Wayne State in Detroit, where he redshirted as a freshman in 2019, had his season cancelled in 2020 because of COVID, and then caught 23 passes for 414 yards and three touchdowns in 2021.
Prewitt hit the portal and landed at CMU, where last season he saw the field sparingly while getting acclimated to Mount Pleasant, the step up to Football Bowl Subdivision, and, perhaps most importantly, teammate Jase Bauer, who on Saturday staked his claim as the Chippewas' starting quarterback after coming off the bench to lead the dramatic comeback victory.
"It took me a minute to transition and get the hang of things," Prewitt said. "After last season, I had a list of things that I knew I needed to work on, and I had to get better at. I just put my head down and continued to work."
Bauer, a sophomore, completed a career-high 19 passes against the Jaguars; 10 of them went to Prewitt.
"This past offseason, me and Jase put in many hours of work outside of practices, outside of workouts," Prewitt said. "That's probably where the connection was built. After the South Alabama game, I just remember him coming up to me and we're hugging each other and I told him, 'I told you our time was going to come! All the hard work, all the hours, eventually it was going to pay off.' Just to see that was amazing."
Prewitt showed signs of his potential in the Chippewas' previous two games. He caught a 32-yard touchdown pass, his first as a Chippewa, in a 45-42 win over New Hampshire and then had two catches for 59 yards before some 77,000 fans in a 41-17 loss at Notre Dame.
He also showed his dad, Jesse Jr., a Dayton, Ohio native who spent two years at Ohio State as a walk-on wide receiver in the early 1990s, that he had made it, in a manner of speaking.
"My dad was saying, 'I'm kind of tripping right now; you're here at Notre Dame,'" Prewitt said. "For me, (Notre Dame) was a confidence builder. I just wanted to go out there and show everybody what I'm made of. Just making those couple of catches, it was just a confidence boost for me."
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