Terrelle Pryor Saga: Will It Be Ohio State or Michigan?

Ohio State and Michigan are without a doubt the most storied programs in the Big Ten and every year they compete for bragging rights.  

This offseason they are competing for one of the highest profiled high school football players in recent history.  The battle has been a contentious one, so if you are unaware of this, you must have been living under a rock for the past six months.

Whether Terrelle Pryor attends Ohio State or Michigan, there is no doubt he will be a dual threat quarterback.  He will average 100 yards rushing every game, and each autumn Saturday hundreds of thousands of fans will don his jersey.  

When it comes to deciding between Ohio State and Michigan, you’ll see the differences are night and day.  I think the biggest difference is that at Ohio State, Pryor would be surrounded by players who are all just as talented he is.  He would be sure to win the last game of the regular season every year and have several chances to help his team to a national title.

Rich Rodriguez did not prove anything to me at West Virginia, except that he can recruit athletic players and get them to be more athletic than the opposition.  The Big Ten may be down right now as a conference, but there is still a good deal of major talent in the Big East.  Anyway, it takes more than talent to win in the Big Ten (ask Lloyd Carr about last year).   

And it’s not hard to run the offense that Rodriguez runs.  Ohio State could install that offense overnight if they wanted to (but they won’t).

Pryor needs to look at this situation as a business decision.  Which program and coach will better prepare him for the NFL and increase his earning potential?  

The only obstacles to Pryor’s making it into the NFL would be if he were unable to prove he can throw the ball, or if he were to be injured.

At Michigan, Rich Rodriguez will be pressured to win and he would call on Pryor to run the ball nearly 25 times a game.  This would take its toll on Pryor, physically, and increase the possibility of injury.  Should Pryor choose Michigan, he will risk injury and he will not be given the chance to showcase his arm nearly as much.

On the other hand, at Ohio State Jim Tressel will have him throw the ball because his team thrives on a balanced offense; in the Big Ten you never know what kind of weather conditions you will be playing in.  Pryor would also have less risk for an injury because Ohio State already has other players more than capable of handling the ball.  In fact, Ohio almost always has one of the best offensive lines in the country.  

I do believe that Tressel would have Pryor run the ball (that is Pryor’s main strength).  I am pretty sure that Tressel likes to run the ball and control that clock.     

Being prepared for the NFL is what really matters in the long run, and if Terrelle Pryor's main goal is to make a career out of football, Michigan and Rich Rodriguez are not the answers. 

It’s a no-brainer.