Division II is giving deserving students some on-field experience during this year’s live football broadcasts on CBS College Sports.

Building from a pilot program during last year’s basketball broadcasts, Division II is arranging for student journalists to handle sideline reporting duties on many of the Thursday night games in this year’s CBS College Sports football package.

Kim Prather, a broadcast journalism major and track athlete at Abilene Christian, reported live from the sideline during the Wildcats’ season-opening 19-14 victory over Northwest Missouri State on August 27.

Prather, who finished second in the 400-meter dash at last year’s Division II Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, needed her speed early on when severe weather rolled in just before she was to give her first report.

“I was already down on the sideline getting ready to start the game and they told me in my earpiece to come on back to the truck quick because the weather was about to turn,” said the senior, who wants to pursue broadcasting as a career.

Storms strong enough to topple a section of bleachers at Shotwell Stadium and wreck two tailgate tents caused the start of the game to be delayed an hour and send Prather into scramble mode.

“I had to change my script to talk about the weather,” she said. “The original opening script that I had been going over that whole day went out the window.”

Undeterred, Prather went on before a nationwide audience on CBS College Sports and regional viewers from Fox Sports Southwest and Fox Sports Houston. After her notes about the weather wreaking havoc on the game, Prather interviewed both coaches at the half as well as Abilene Christian Athletics Director Jared Mosley. She also was on the air with Wildcats coach Chris Thomsen at the end of the game.

“I’ve done a lot of work with the CBS affiliate here in Abilene, but that was mostly just news, so this was an opportunity for me to get sports on my resume as well,” Prather said.

Prather will graduate in December and begin graduate work at Abilene Christian while she completes her eligibility in track.

Division II Vice President Mike Racy said the idea of a student sideline reporter emerged during last year’s basketball broadcasts. “We did this as a pilot last year with our basketball game at West Liberty State, and it went so well that we decided to continue that opportunity this year,” he said.

Racy said the goal is to provide an opportunity for a student or recent graduate of the host institution to gain some experience rather than rely on a professional broadcaster. That opportunity may not emerge for every game (there won’t be a student reporting from the sideline at tonight’s Minnesota Duluth-Central Washington game, for example), but where it’s applicable, Division II wants to make it work.

Prather certainly appreciated her opportunity.

“It was pretty much what I thought it would be except a little bit more hectic,” she said. “Sometimes they would come to me about two minutes before I was on the air, so it felt a little rushed and chaotic at times, but that is what I love about journalism – the excitement of never knowing what will happen next.

“I had so much fun on Thursday – it just reassured me that it’s what I want to pursue.”