Better Know A Buckeye: Terrelle Pryor

Posted by Vico in Better Know A Buckeye | Aug.11.08

February 07 2008 – March 18 2008: Not worried…

I don’t feel like stressing every little thing that followed during this time. To be honest, I wasn’t paying that much attention knowing that Pryor would eventually come to Ohio State. Further, I think I have some Terrelle Pryor fatigue from doing this, so I don’t have the energy to go into much detail. That said, there are a few things to note during this time.

Recruiting analysts tried to spin the delay as invariably bad for Ohio State. Tom Luginbill said that if Pryor eventually visits Oregon, he would be so wowed by the presence of Nike, the staff’s prowess and their “second-to-none” facilities that he wouldn’t say no to the Ducks. Lest we forget that the cause for the delay was the pressure to stay closer to home. Bill Conley, another analyst for ESPN, said “Every day that Terrelle Pryor doesn’t commit to Ohio State is not good”.

The more accurate story, however, is that every day Terrelle Pryor doesn’t schedule a visit to Penn State is not good. In fact, every day Terrelle Pryor doesn’t schedule a visit to Penn State it becomes more obvious where he wants to be. Pryor’s basketball schedule was packed on account of the football season before it, and Terrelle was just not finding time. Almost a week after Pryor eschewed signing day in order to visit Penn State, he still had not set up an official visit to Penn State. Combine the issue of Paterno’s future at Penn State with the fact that, at the time, there was no guarantee that any new coach would keep any of the current staff (like a Tom Bradley, who Terrelle did like), and it started to slowly dawn on people that the Buckeyes probably had the inside track to Pryor.

After all, almost two weeks after signing day, Terrelle, while still committed to his poker face (considering all schools, trying to make the best decision, et al), made a rather obvious revelation where he really wanted to be. Yes, he was saying that he thinks he may not have seen everything at Penn State, but now was also saying that he thinks he didn’t get to see everything at Ohio State.

If Pryor takes an official visit to Penn State, he still may take another unofficial visit.

“I’ve seen everything at Michigan, but I didn’t get to see everything at Ohio State,” he said. “I am still in touch with all the Ohio State commitments I’ve become friends with, but they’re being really cool about it, not pressuring me.”

Still worried?

Ray Reitz, Pryor’s football coach, also filled in some details. He expressed some mild surprise that Terrelle didn’t announce during signing day, since he thinks it was clear he wanted to go to Ohio State. Further, with the NCAA-stipulated moratorium on communication with recruits (one call per week), Terrelle was getting around that by calling Tressel… often¹.

I try not to focus on Terrelle’s HS football or basketball exploits, since it’s mostly irrelevant to the story. However, basketball was the reason Terrelle was not finding time for much in the way of visits. On Saturday February 23, he and his Jayhawks exacted some revenge on Beaver Falls for the earlier December loss at a hoops tournament in Charlotte by beating Beaver Falls 82-68 for the WPIAL Class AA title². It’s consequence? Terrelle Pryor would have a temporary reprieve, but would then be consumed by the state championship run. So did Terrelle spend his ephemeral break checking out State College?

Terrelle Pryor makes his way through the Schott, photo courtesy of OhioSte (BuckeyePlanet)

Rather than give Penn State that look, Terrelle Pryor made good on his statement to Rivals (quoted above) and was in town Sunday February 24 to watch the basketball Buckeyes play the Badgers. Pryor joined his teammate and future Ohio State commit Jordan Hall for the Junior Day visit, asking if he could tag along as well. Terrelle Pryor declined comment on the visit, and was even a little peeved that word broke on the visit, but was seen visibly happy for the entirety of his time in the stands. In a moved that lacked subtlety, if anything, 2008 signees and then current students JB Shugarts and Michael Brewster were introduced to the crowd and cheered loudly during a break in the action. The implication was, of course, how big of a show of support would Pryor get if he came to Columbus. Pryor left during the second half, and (thankfully) didn’t watch the Buckeyes stumble to a home loss against the Badgers. That said, Ray Reitz put the best spin on the visit.

“That doesn’t look good if you can’t go to Penn State, but can still go to Ohio State,” said Ray Reitz, Pryor’s football coach.

Terrelle Pryor with state championship trophy, after beating Strawberry Mansion in overtime

Afterwards, Pryor began working towards adding to the WPIAL AA championship with a PIAA state championship. The Jayhawks started with a thrashing of Kane, after which Pryor was supposedly going to take an official visit to Penn State. However, no visit materialized, perhaps principally because of Pryor’s father, Craig, being recently hospitalized with a slight heart attack. Afterwards, the Jayhawks routed Girard High on Wednesday March 5 to advance to the quarterfinals. On Saturday March 8, the Jayhawks beat North Central by 26 to advance to the state semifinals against North East, which they won on Wednesday March 12 by a score of 75-66. With the victory, the Jayhawks advanced to the state championship game against Strawberry Mansion, to be held in the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s campus. By this time, there was some speculation that Terrelle would use the occasion to take a visit to Penn State, but that never materialized. Instead, Terrelle was only there on business, beating Strawberry Mansion in overtime for a state title. Afterwards, Terrelle Pryor made it known that he was not taking any more visits and that he would announce next week. After all, the only thing prohibiting him from making a decision (basketball) was now over and Terrelle never got around to taking the visit to Penn State, the reason he had delayed his recruitment in the first place. Further, he didn’t take the trip to Oregon, nor did he get to visit Michigan again with his mom like he had hoped for. So what would his decision be?

I’m pretty sure they know I’m coming, Pryor stated. I just want to get this whole thing over with and move on.

We were confident what he meant by that.

I thought it was apropos. You all better know what movie this is from.

I heard a rumor that Tressel was the only coach on speed dial on Pryor’s cellphone. Take with a grain of salt since, well, I obviously don’t have Pryor’s cellphone on me. [↩]
Pryor had a stat line of 39 points, 26 rebounds, 10 blocks and six assists for that game. Yowza. [↩]

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19 Responses to “Better Know A Buckeye: Terrelle Pryor”

1 bup bup bup August 11th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
holy shiiiiittttttt

thanks for getting me fired at the illiteracy factory
2 Gabby Jay August 11th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
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?
3 Jason August 11th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Wow. I now have plans for the evening.
4 Pfef August 11th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I’d give you two thumbs up, if I weren’t wasting my time giving my computer screen hand gestures. Great work, man.
5 MikeLew August 11th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I love the SpaceBalls reference on page 18…….
6 Vico August 11th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
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.
7 Dave August 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
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.
8 CL August 11th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Wow. Amazing work. Now I’ll have something to do at my summer job tomorrow for a couple hours.
9 Max Power August 11th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Vico, you can now open the sweet nectar of Gods, Pabst Blue Ribbon, in a jubilant celebration.
10 Poe McKnoe August 11th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
You have now reached “legend” status, my friend.
11 Jason August 11th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Speaking of pp 18, is Strawberry Mansion not the coolest school name ever?
12 Ron August 11th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
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.
13 El Caballo de Sangre August 11th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
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.
14 Mike August 12th, 2008 at 9:49 am
That was a monster of a piece, nice work.
15 scott August 12th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
My cat’s name is Terrelle.
16 Keith C. August 12th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Fantastic piece. Incredibly researched and supported. I learned many new things. Kudos.
17 Klinglered August 12th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
That was a great post and this has been a great series, now i can’t wait for the last one.
18 Vico August 13th, 2008 at 8:29 am
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.
19 Gabby Jay August 13th, 2008 at 11:00 am
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”.

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