A Look at Terrelle Pryor One Year Later

One year ago, prized recruit Terrelle Pryor ended the massive speculation and chose Ohio State over Penn State, Oregon and Michigan.

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated even said his decision "will unquestionably be the most anticipated signing day announcement in history"—Now thats hype.

In this article, I examine Terrelle's year since then, with an almost full season of starts and several nationally televised games. Was the excitement worth it?

Terrelle Arrives

The long awaited arrival of Terrelle in Columbus. Ohio State's savior brings with him a long line of accolades from high school ball, as well as ridiculous expectations for the next level.

Will his undeniable talent transfer to college, or will he flutter out like so many hyped recruits before him?

The Ohio State faithful can only hold their collective breath while waiting for a first taste of Pryor...

Pryor's First Touchdown

Ah! School is back in, the first scent of fall is in the air, and Ohio State Football is finally kicking into gear again.

The Scarlet and Gray open against 1AA team Youngstown State (Tressel's previous gig) with a solid performance. All was well in the Shutout, save for Beanie's heart attack inducing injury.

Terrelle was rotated in fairly early during the game- to much applause from the stands- and he did not disappoint. He went 4-6 passing, and ran 9 times for 52 yards.

While not a spectacular showing, he looked solid and would've gone 6-6 if not for two dropped passes. As seen in the above photo, he also managed to run for his first collegiate touchdown.

Hopes for the season remained high despite Well's aforementioned, and much publicized, scare.

That Game

Ugh. The game that every OSU player, fan, and coach swore wasn't going to happen again. Except this time, the loss hurt much worse than those dropped to Florida and LSU.

Todd Boeckman played terribly, although most of the blame could be placed on the offensive line. Our defense looked out of place and our special teams were less than adequate. The lone bright spot (for the Bucks) in this matchup
was Pryor, who solely disrupted USC's tremendous defense when rotated in. Unfortunately, the game plan called for Boeckman and Pryor to alternate DURING a series, which completely destroyed any rhythm created after a first down or long gain.

Still, Terrelle was 7-9 for 52 yards, and gained 40 yards on 11 attempts rushing. Fans at this point were calling for Boeckman's head. One week later, Tressel answered.

Terrelle's First Start

"Finally!" The amnesiac fans cried as they suddenly forgot about the national title run Todd Boeckman strung together the previous season. Terrelle was now officially the starter of Ohio State's football team, and boy did he make that decision look good.

In his first start, Terrelle was 10-16 passing, 139 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also gained 66 yards rushing on 14 attempts.

Ohio States fans were enamored with Terrelle. Questions as to why he was not used more began to circulate Columbus, with even the usually pro-Tressel Dispatch writers beginning to bash his decision making in regards to the QB situation.

The dawn of a new, faster and slicker era of football in Columbus was arriving, and Terrelle was carrying the flag.

Terrelle silences critics, finally shuts up Mark May

Mark May, who had strongly criticized Terrelle for delaying his college decision last February, decided to once again prod the fire.

This time, he announced (on national tv) that Terrelle was not ready for the national stage- —essentially saying that he was going to get blown up by any decent defense.

Being the rather and rightly arrogant freshman that he is, Terrelle replied with a few none too kind words of his own.

Needless to say, Terrelle came out strong against Wisconsin the following week, and when placed in an extremely successful situation, succeed masterfully.

The team was down with about six minutes left on the clock. When most QBs, especially freshmen, are placed in that scenario (in front of a massive away crowd) they would fail miserably.

Fortunately for the Bucks, Terrelle was not like most freshmen. He lead a spectacular 80 yard drive that lasted 12 plays and was capped by a perfectly executed option.

The final TD was scored by none of than Terrelle Pryor himself, and in true superstar form. Mark May did not comment.

Terrelle puts foot in mouth, Mark May talking again

Ohio State had just put up big numbers against Michigan State, with Pryor and Beanie Wells running all over the field.

Suddenly the Penn State game became the biggest of the weekend, as it was essentially the Big Ten Championship.

Hopes were high for this resurgent Buckeyes team, and as Terrelle lead his team out onto the field the crowds (almost unanimously draped in red) were louder than ever.

What ensued was a defensive battle not seen since the time of Woody and Bo- a low scoring, time consuming, field position battle in which he who makes the first big mistake loses.

The Scarlet and Gray were leading 6-3 with only half of the 4th quarter left. Faced with a 3rd and 1 in their own territory, everyone in the stadium knew what was coming.

Because the coach on the sideline was wearing a sweater vest, and also due to the play of the game thus far, a QB sneak up the center was imminent.

Terrelle snapped the ball, took a step forward- then, seeing a gap on the outside, bounced around and shot forward. As his eyes drifted up field, he overlooked the incoming defender who managed to strip the ball.

Penn State recovered and scored on the following drive, winning the game 13-6.

"It was the worst feeling in the world. I've never faced adversity like that before." - Pryor in the post game interview

The Michigan Game

The joys of late November have been plentiful for the Buckeye faithful as of late, and 2008 was no different.

Despite a rocky start (throwing a goal line interception, then tackling the defender himself), Terrelle played quite sufficiently.

Completing 5 of 13 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns, Terrelle and Ohio State were able to beat the Wolverines handily 42-7 for the fifth straight year; a record for the Scarlet and Gray in their annual battle with that team from up north.

The Fiesta Bowl

Oh, the joys of bowl season.

SEC teams getting their pride stuffed by MWC, Big Ten teams losing left and right, and USC getting its annual blowout.

This bowl season was fairly boring, even the national title game lacked the hype of years past despite featuring two great offenses.

However, the one major bowl that lived up to the billing was the Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Texas.

Almost everyone expected to see another Buckeye blowout loss, but this group of seniors had experienced enough of that. Instead, they decided to put on one last great show for the Columbus faithful.

Even though they lost, James Laurinitus, Marcus Freeman, Malcom Jenkins, and Todd Boeckman will forever be remembered as OSU greats.

Despite some very rough patches (including a season-long benching) these seniors fought their hearts out in this final game, and their effort will never be forgotten.

Not to forget the rest of the team, or the feature of this article- Terrelle and Co. played exceptional as well, although most will remember Pryor for his elegant runs and TD catch rather than his passing. Everyone has seen the Boeckman to Pryor fade in the early 4th quarter that brought the Bucks back into the game, and boy what a play. It brings to mind the thought of missed possibilities and opportunities. What if Tress had called that during the PSU game? What could JoPa possibly have up his sleeve to counter that?

All in all, an excellent game and hands down the best of the bowl season.

Next Year

Heading into spring practice there are so many questions surrounding Terrelle and his team of youngsters.

Will he improve his passing game?

Will the new receivers step up and make Pryor look good?

Will the line improve after losing most of its under-achieving starters from 2008?

How will Heacock's defense step up, especially in the secondary, after losing so much talent?

Which RB will emerge as the next Buckeye great?

Is anyone still reading this article?!

So many more questions that only time will answer.