Football
Terrelle Pryor: Facts and Myths
By John Porentas

The long-awaited signing of Terrelle Pryor is now a done-deal. Pryor has signed his letter of intent to play football for the Buckeyes.

On the very remote chance that you haven't heard about Pryor, here's what we know about him.

Terrelle Pryor removes his jacket to reveal an OSU t-shirt.
Photo by Jim Davidson

* As a quarterback at Jeannette High in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, Pryor amassed amazing statistics. Pryor totaled 4,238 career rushing yards and 4,340 career passing yards. It is the first time in the state of Pennsylvania that a player has had over 4,000 yards both rushing and passing in a career.

* As a senior, Pryor gained 1,899 rushing and 1,889 passing yards, accounting for 58 touchdowns. He was tabbed the top football prospect in the nation coming out of high school this year by those who are wont to make those kinds of proclamations.

* As a basketball player Pryor scored over 2,000 points in his career. He is a legitimate Division I basketball prospect as a shooting guard or small forward.

* In his senior season Jeannette won state championships in both football and basketball. Pryor starred on both squads.

* His high school football coach described him as follows:

"He runs a 4.3 40, can throw very accurate about 60 or 70 yards, runs like a tailback. You've (Ohio State) got the greatest athlete I've seen come out of Western Pennsylvania."

* Because of his size (6-6, 230) and skill set, he has been compared to former Texas University quarterback Vince Young.

Terrelle Pryor answers questions from the media.
Photo by Jim Davidson

There are a couple of things we know about Pryor that are more subjective. For starters, Pryor's recruitment may have been one of the most high-profile recruiting stories in OSU history. As if his reputation as a great player were not enough, he elected not to sign a letter of intent last February on national signing day, but rather took extra time to make his decision.

When the number one player becomes the only player of significance yet unsigned, the spotlight becomes incredibly bright, and that has both its upsides and its downsides. On the upside, Pryor got extra time to make his decision on a school. On the downside however, during that time he earned a few labels. Some called him an "attention whore" and there was speculation that he could be an "attitude problem" on a football team.

Our first impression of Pryor is that you don't have to worry about those labels.

We were fully prepared not to like Pryor (OK, that's blasphemy, but we were). We had heard all the stuff, knew the circumstance of his signing (or more accurately, his non-signing), and thought there might be something to what all the nay-sayers were saying. We're pleased to report that we were pleasantly impressed by Pryor, and we don't mean with his football skills. Pryor's football skills speak for themselves. What we liked was his ability to articulate his position. We also liked what we understood his position to be. The labels, we think, are mostly myth.

The Signing Late for the Attention Myth: We heard talk that Pryor was just seeking attention. What he said was that he was seeking wins.

"I had a lot of thinking to do," said Pryor.

"We wanted to win that state championship and we completed that goal and I decided to make that choice."

Terrelle Pryor grabs his brother's cap as his father looks on.
Photo by Jim Davidson

Pryor prioritized, and we like how he arranged those priorities. His personal agenda (choosing a school) got shuffled back behind the goal of his team, winning a state basketball championship. Those who cover recruiting were not happy, nor were those who follow it. They wanted to know where he was going to school, but Pryor was focused on a team goal and put his own agenda behind that. At least one very involved person, Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel, definitely approved of his methods.

"He had a mission. Far be it for us to tell him that our mission was more important than his," said Tressel.

Tressel was not a member of the hand-wringing angst crowd as Pryor made his decision. Despite the fact that Pryor may have ended up at arch-rival Michigan, OSU's number one competition for Pryor, Tressel would not have had it any other way given the circumstance.

"The only guys we want at Ohio State are the guys who have thoroughly investigated it, have found out every little thing about it and know deep-down that this is the place for them. We wanted to give him the time and space to do that," Tressel said.

In the end, it was a very tough decision for Pryor, and it wasn't like he decided weeks ago and just held out for dramatic effect. He said yesterday that he did not make his final decision until the morning of the the press conference.

"I couldn't sleep last night. I didn't go to bed until two or three just thinking. I had to say no to somebody and it was Michigan," said Pryor.

At the press conference he did not make a huge show of his announcement. He immediately and directly announced it, then donned an OSU hat and tee-shirt. While wearing them, he described his difficulty in making a final call on his school choice.

"I couldn't have gone wrong either way. I could have gone to Michigan and possibly had started the whole time. I could have gone to Penn State and possibly fought for a starting job or I could have gone to Oregon and fought for a starting job," Pryor said.

Pryor was asked whether he was worried about the public perception he may have created by signing late. He didn't become surly, but answered directly.

"I don't get why people say everything is about me," said Pryor.

Terrelle Pryor shakes hands with his high school Head Coach Ray Reitz.
Photo by Jim Davidson

"People were saying I just want to be the main topic of the day. Ask my teammates, ask anybody around here, that's not how I am. I don't like being in the spotlght...at all. I didn't ask to be number one in the country. That's all I can say about that," Pryor said.

Pryor actually said that the worst part of the entire recruiting process was the attention from the recruiting services and media.

"Phone calls from you people," he said when asked the most difficult aspect of it all.

"Mostly it was the media. ESPN will get on you bad if you don't chose a school you're the worst person ever."

"I just want to be an ordinary kid and go work out and do my job and please the Buckeye nation.

"It feels like weight is off my shoulders. I can concentrate now. Now I'm looking to get in the weight room, put on 10 or 15 pounds, run, get my 40 down, throw the ball, work on my release, work on my technique."

The Playing Time Myth: As Pryor was recruited the "common wisdom" was that Pryor would be swayed by whichever school promised him the most playing time. As it turns out, it was the fact that he would not have to carry a team early that may have tipped the balance toward Ohio State.

"At Ohio State Todd Boeckman is still there. It's a long season and there's a senior there and I can learn from the senior," said Pryor.

"I'd like to learn off a senior. He's a great quarterback. I've watched him a lot," Pryor said.

Pryor's attitude is refreshingly mature, but don't get the impression that he doesn't want to be on the field. He does, and wants to be on it as soon as possible, but he's a realist when it comes to what his role might be as a freshman quarterback. That's because he and Tressel have talked about that very topic.

"He explained that as Todd Boeckman is in there that he would work it in just like Tebow, use me on runs, and that sounded good to me," said Pryor.

"It's a learning thing but I'd like to get in there and get a little dirt on.

"If I can get 10 or 15 snaps a game or whatever I would be proud and happy. I'm going to make something happen, I promise you that," Pryor said.

Later in the day on a teleconference Tressel confirmed what Pryor had said earlier.

"He's excited about learning the offense and he's excited about helping any way he can. He has great respect for Todd Boeckman and all the rest of the guys. He wants to earn every single thing that he gets," said Tressel.

"I think everyone is aware of the fact that he has the kind of ability that once he understands the system and knows opposing defenses and all the rest then he's going to have a chance to express his physical abilities and his playmaking ability.

Terrelle Pryor dons an OSU ballcap as he commits to the Buckeyes
Photo by Jim Davidson

"No question about it, you try to find as many ways you can to get playmakers into the ball game," Tressel said.

Tressel said that Pryor never tried to extract a promise of playing time during the recruiting process.

"He didn't want you to promise him that," said Tressel.

"He didn't want to necessarily go to where they said 'Hey, you're the guy,' because he's very sensitive to his teammates. He wants to earn everything he gets with his teammates, but I know he has a passion to make it impossible for us not to put him in the football game.

"I love guys that have that outlook. I think full well that he has the ability once he gains a command of the system and those types of things and all that it takes to be a great quarterback that how quickly he can do that will determine how quickly he can make it impossible for us not to put him in the game."

The "Can't Win the Big One" Myth: Pryor almost chuckled when he talked about this one. This myth said that Pryor would be swayed away from Ohio State because the Buckeyes have failed in two-straight national championship games. Pryor, the myth went, would go to a school where he could actually win one. Pryor said that he and his classmates aren't concerned.

"We just want to work hard and help Coach Tress get over that little hump he's got, that little championship losing two years in a row," said Pryor with a smile on his face.

"We're going to do whatever we can to help over it. I'm part of the class now and hopefully we can do that."

Yes, Pryor wants to win a national championship. No, he does not doubt that he can accomplish that at Ohio State. He absolutely loves the composition of his recruiting class and the talent currently at Ohio State.

"It's great. There are three or four big time linemen. That's the guys that are protecting you. I had a good bond with them and you've got a couple of receivers coming in, a running back, plus you've got a great defense coming back for next year," said Pryor.

The Two-Sport Myth: There was talk that Pryor would play both basketball and football in college. That does not appear to be the case, at least at the moment.

"I'd love to, but I want to be a great quarterback. Whatever is going to stand in the way of being a great quarterback I don't want anything to do with it," said Pryor.

"Right now I think he's come to the conclusion that it takes so much time and effort to become the best at a position like quarterback that basketball probably doesn't make the best sense right off the bat," said Tressel.

"I haven't talked to Thad yet," said Pryor.

"I'm just focused on this football thing because that's the main focus to me."

Tressel did not rule out revisiting that issue at a later date, but for now, Pryor is exclusively a football player.

The Hype Will Make It Tough for Him to Excel Myth: Young athletes sometimes read headlines and never live up to them. Tressel doesn't think that will be a problem with Pryor.

Terrelle Pryor talks with a local television station after making his announcement.
Photo by Jim Davidson

"I think the real good ones understand that that might be the case at that moment, but every other person who is in that top tier is going to be working like crazy so they need to do the same," said Tressel.

"The focus has to stay on development and excellence and becoming the best you can be. Troy Smith did a pretty good job and wasn't quite as hyped coming out of high school.

"That's a great lesson that it doesn't matter how you are coming out of high school. It's how you develop.

"That's what I love about Terrelle, his passion to develop and become the best.

"He doesn't get caught up in what people say about how good he is.

"He wants to get better. It's become very apparent to me is that his passion is to become a great, great quarterback.

"As recently as last night he and I were talking about fundamentals and things he has to work on.

"From the beginning, the first clip or two, we know that he had every tool you could possibly dream of.

"Now he's the kind of guy who's going to go work on all of them."

The Deciding Factors: Pryor was adamant that his decision was not made lightly, that the time he took to make it was spent weighing his options. In the end, there were some things he could just not overlook.

"The night before I talked with a lot of NFL coaches and a lot of scouts and saw what their mind was thinking about, what I should do, not that it was going to change my mind. I wanted to get their intake. A lot of them said Michigan, they also said Ohio State could be good because you could learn from a senior quarterback who has been around and you could play that Tebow role. They said that would be a good thing," said Pryor.

"Coach Tress, you've got to love him. I love coach Tress. He's a classy guy. I talk to him about every day. He's probably the main focus of me committing there along with the other coaches."

He also said he ruled out Penn State because "it's just not the place for me. It's just not. I just don't like the area. I don't like that place," and that Oregon was too far away. That left just OSU and Michigan. Pryor said Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez didn't stop recruiting him to the very end, even on the phone call when Pryor called to tell him he was not coming to Michigan.

"He was still recruiting me, giving me lines. I feel bad. Coach Rod did his job, he's going to be a great coach. He'll still make stuff happen," said Pryor.

What's Next: Pryor will enroll at Ohio State his June. His immediate goals are simple.

"I'm looking forward to working with Todd Boeckman and Chris Wells and Henton and I'm looking forward to competing, because that's how I am," said Pryor.

"Just learn from Todd and take everything in from Coach Daniels."

Pryor is willing to wait, learn, and earn his way. He's also confident he can help early.

"I know that on some of the runs I can help, give the defense something else to look at," said Pryor.

He's also confident the OSU coaching staff will know how to use him.

"Coach Tress is a smart guy. Coach Daniels is also and I'm sure they'll understand, they'll know."

While it's most likely that Pryor will be doing a lot more running than passing in his first season as a Buckeye, don't rule out an occasional pass if he gets on the field. According to Tressel, his passing skills coming out of high school are a little better than those of another quarterback you may have heard of when he came out of high school. His name is Vince Young.

"What Joe Daniels felt when we had him in youth camp was his ability to throw the football was much greater than some of those comparisons," said Tressel.

"I spoke with Mac Brown and Mac felt that as they were evaluating him that he was a guy that maybe had some more-developed passing background (than Young) because they run a diverse offense there at Jeannette. They throw it a lot of different ways.

"I think the biggest difference you have wouldn't be so much in what he can do with the football but in the people defending those passes. The game is so much faster and he's going to have to adjust to that, but I don't think the speed of the game has ever been an issue for him because he plays the game pretty fast both mentally and physically. "

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