Better Know A Buckeye: Terrelle Pryor
October 2007: Is the writing on the wall?
A few things happened in October 2007 that may have indicated Ohio State had Terrelle Pryor’s recruitment in cruise control, and that the writing was on the wall for the other teams pursuing his services.
First, Penn State’s offense got less than stellar reviews from Pryor’s head coach in a report published by the Daily Collegian on October 12. Penn State had been a longshot for awhile by this point, but Ray Reitz, put bluntly, buried Penn State’s offense as primitive. Though not articulated by Pryor himself, Reitz was a strong figure in Pryor’s recruitment and him telling Joe Paterno how to coach against a team like Michigan could not bode well for Penn State’s chances in getting Reitz prized recruit. Just a few days later, Mike at Black Shoe Diaries articulated the hard reality that most Penn State fans were coming to terms with: they weren’t going to get Pryor, the top recruit in the Western Pennsylvania pipeline they cherish so dearly. Worse yet, he may be becoming a Buckeye.
Penn State wasn’t the only team going to Plan B. Even WVU, long a significant contender for Terrelle Pryor, started looking into a contingency plan. Star Jackson, who by that time verbaled to the Crimson Tide (and eventually signed with them), was getting pursued by Rodriguez, who was hoping to convince Jackson to take an official visit to Morgantown. The other early contender for Pryor, Florida, seemed to have backed off a bit in its emphasis afforded to Pryor. The Gators already had Cameron Newton, John Brantley and JUCO transfer Bryan Waggener signed in their 2007 class, and were certainly not lacking at the position.
Meanwhile, nothing but positive news was coming towards Columbus’ way. Lamaar Thomas verbaled to the Buckeyes in October 18, which bode well (if anything) for the Buckeyes’ chances with Pryor since Lamaar and Terrelle were in frequent contact. Indeed, after Lamaar Thomas committed to the University of Ohio State, Terrelle texted Lamaar to congratulate him. On his end, Lamaar said that since he committed to Ohio State, he might put a little push on Terrelle to follow him to Columbus. When Terrelle was asked if he could see himself throwing to Lamaar Thomas one day, he said with a mischievous grin:
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it … if I would choose them.”
Thomas announcement, and its corollary consequences for Pryor’s recruitment, was far from the biggest thing happening that month. The week after Thomas’ presser, the Buckeyes were coming to Happy Valley to play the Nittany Lions on primetime television. But before that, Jim Tressel and Thad Matta joined forces and went on a one-stop tour to watch Terrelle and his Jayhawks play.
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holy shiiiiittttttt
thanks for getting me fired at the illiteracy factory
Dude. This is 27 pages single-spaced at .7 inch margins, when taking out the images.
Dude.
You’re not expecting anyone to read this, are you? This must be the longest post in the history of college football blogging. When was the last time you went out anyways?
Wow. I now have plans for the evening.
I’d give you two thumbs up, if I weren’t wasting my time giving my computer screen hand gestures. Great work, man.
I love the SpaceBalls reference on page 18…….
Hmm, I don’t know when the last time I got out was, but 27 pages single-spaced? That’s a little exorbitant even for me.
Great article. I think you know more about Terrelle than he does. Thanks for all the hard work – this had to take a while to finish.
Wow. Amazing work. Now I’ll have something to do at my summer job tomorrow for a couple hours.
Vico, you can now open the sweet nectar of Gods, Pabst Blue Ribbon, in a jubilant celebration.
You have now reached “legend” status, my friend.
Speaking of pp 18, is Strawberry Mansion not the coolest school name ever?
Whew! I’m exhausted! I squandered an hour of my employer’s time, and still had to finish it at home. So many cool links to follow. Naturally, after getting my fix, I can only ask … nah, nevermind. Take a few days off, then we’ll all hit you up for the next, and last, BKAB.
I think I’ve read about this somewhere else (if not, I can’t believe I’m the only one with the idea), but on the subject of the signing day postponement that got everybody so freaked out/made Terrelle look like an attention whore: it seems reasonable to assume that TP knew where he was going but didn’t want to deal with hostile crowds at PSU during the state basketball tourney and simply waited till after it was over to announce.
That was a monster of a piece, nice work.
My cat’s name is Terrelle.
Fantastic piece. Incredibly researched and supported. I learned many new things. Kudos.
That was a great post and this has been a great series, now i can’t wait for the last one.
Oh, I forgot to include this: http://www.pittsburghsportsinsider.com/?p=1095
Take a look at what Joe Paterno (allegedly) told Terrelle Pryor early into his recruitment.
senior year stats: http://jeannettejayhawksfootball.blogspot.com/2008/08/rollover-stats-terrelle-pryor.html
and lastly: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07241/812755-365.stm
- pay careful attention to the stories of him stealing the ball of the tee, and hurdling a would-be tackler at the 5 yard line and landing 3 yards in the end zone.
Dude, you made it onto The Big Lead and SI’s Campus Clicks.
Dude.
Bandwidth gets chewed through, but no one’s contributed to the Give Us Money Campaign. That gets a dismayed “Dude”.