The NCAA is currently playing a large role in the success of the Northwestern passing game in 2012. Northwestern is still waiting to find out whether or not transfer wide receiver Kyle Prater will be eligible to play in the fall or will have to sit out the 2012 season.

It a decision that Northwestern expects to be made in the next few weeks. The school is hoping that decisions like the one that saw another USC transfer, Amir Carlisle, granted eligibility at Notre Dame this season will lead to Prater receiving the same treatment.

Carlisle transferred to Notre Dame to be closer to his father, who left a job with the San Francisco 49ers to take a job with Purdue. Prater transferred back home to Northwestern -- he's from suburban Chicago -- to care for an ill family member.

Prater announced his transfer to Northwestern from USC in late January. After redshirting the 2010 season he caught only one pass for the Trojans in 2011. However, he did end up at USC as a highly touted recruit, as Prater was a five-star receiver out of high school and was considered the best wide receiver in the country by some scouting services.

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Considering that both of Northwestern's leading receivers in 2011, Jeremy Ebert and Drake Dunsmore, have both moved on to the NFL, it needs as much talent as it can get at the position in 2012.