Better Know A Buckeye: Terrelle Pryor
January 18 2008: Mr. Pryor goes to Ann Arbor
To the delight of Michigan fans, Terrelle Pryor announced that Charlie Batch would be serving as an advisor for the duration of his recruitment. Charlie Batch, a backup quarterback for the Steelers, has something of a tenuous connection to Pryor. Batch’s brother dates Pryor’s aunt, so it’s not as if Batch is just following around Pryor because he has nothing else to do. Batch was basically a family member for Pryor by this point, albeit a semi-celebrity family member. Some Michigan fans casually following Terrelle Pryor’s recruitment might have thought that having Batch as a mentor would bode well for the Wolverines, since Batch spent his college days playing at Eastern Michigan. Ypsilanti, for those unfamiliar, is just under ten miles removed from Ann Arbor.
There were tons of reports about the Pryor visit, and they all basically said the same thing. Toney Clemons, his cousin and grinning fellow in the second part of the picture above, was his host on the official visit. The visit was built around him getting tickets for the Iowa-Michigan basketball game, with Pryor making it to the game about 20 minutes after tip-off. Naturally, the game itself, featuring two cellar-dwellars in the Big Ten, was far less interesting for the Michigan fans in attendance than the no. 1 recruit sitting in the stands. Just like the Penn State and Ohio State visits, the Maize Rage faithful were chanting “WE WANT PRYOR!” in an attempt to sway Pryor their way. Fans also serenaded him with chants of “COME TO MICHIGAN!”, perhaps thinking that if Pryor didn’t get the message the first time around, he surely would understand the context of the second chant. Pryor responded with a polite wave. He eventually left the game in the second half, and was denied a chance to watch the Wolverines drop a 68-60 decision at home.
Outside of the trip to Crisler Arena, Pryor saw all of the things that recruits would see on any visit. He saw the dorms he would potentially be staying in, got a look at the practice facilities, got a pitch about the quality of a Michigan degree and was informed of what their plans for him would be should he choose to attend Michigan.
Michigan fans expecting that Terrelle’s comments about the Michigan experience would be more flattering than his words about his visits to Ohio State and Penn State were left hanging. Terrelle described the visit as “cool” and that it “went as expected”, words that were almost borrowed from what he told the recruiting services about his official visit to Ohio State. As signing day was fast approaching, it wasn’t clear to Michigan fans that the visit to Michigan made any difference vis-a-vis the inside position Ohio State seemed to enjoy at this point.
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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”.