Ohio State Football: Does Terrelle Pryor's SI Story Change Your Opinion of Him?

Ohio State's most polarizing player since Maurice Clarett opened up to Sports Illustrated's Jim Trotter recently and talked about his side of Tattoogate.

In the story, he said that the money he got from selling memorabilia, such as a pair of his "gold pants" and his 2009 Fiesta Bowl Sportsmanship Award, was to help his mother pay for rent and gas.

This is the first time he has said anything about the scandal since he left Ohio State shortly after former coach Jim Tressel's resignation.

Left on the third string of the Oakland Raiders, Pryor has had a lot to think about, including about whether or not he wanted to play football anymore.

Pryor claimed in the story that he will write a book about this one day, but the question is about whether or not fans believe him.

Do you think he left the team because Tressel left, and Pryor saw greener pastures in the NFL? Or did he leave to save his school from worse punishment than it got from the NCAA?

Pryor's legacy is easily as big a black eye as any player in the Ohio State program has left, from Maurice Clarett's one-and-done to Art Schlichter's continued law problems.

Clarett has started to turn his life around and has done so in a very impressive way.

Schlichter continues to spiral down the path of no return as he was sentenced to at least another 10 years in prison a week ago for his involvement in a ticket scam.

So which way is Pryor going to go?

Again you can really look at this SI story two ways.

In one way, you can see a person who did what he did (illegally, of course, under NCAA rules) to help his mother out.

On the other hand, this is a player who also drove a new car to a team meeting the day that Tressel resigned, flaunting himself in front of his teammates and the OSU fans.

That alone is enough of a red flag to want the university to disassociate itself from him, which it did.

In the end, most fans should want Pryor to mature, to recognize the error of his ways and be better because of it.

Maybe that's what he is trying to say in this SI story.

Pryor has hurt this university in ways it has never been hurt before, and there isn't anything he can do about it.

But his struggles have helped fans come to grips with the fact that there are more important things than just winning.

Urban Meyer has made that a point as he has passed on bringing in a few recruits—mostly due to NCAA probation—to Ohio State because of character issues.

So what is Terrelle Pryor's lasting legacy at Ohio State?

Is it the guy who won two BCS bowl games (including the vacated 2011 Allstate Sugar Bowl)?

Or is it the guy that was one step away from selling his university down the river for his own personal benefit?

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