Why Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor Should Have Chosen Michigan

Anybody who saw Terrelle Pryor in last Saturday's game at Purdue had to be thinking to themselves if not openly saying "what if"? Terrelle Pryor was ineffective for the most part of this past weekend, producing four turnovers, including a couple near misses.

He looked confused and flustered for the majority of the plays, and he forced throws into spots that he shouldn't have even considered. Multiple throws were carelessly lofted towards the arms of defenders or into traffic.

His passing wasn't the only sub-par portion of his game. Pryor's decision making was slow and poor as well as his rushing performance of 34 net yards on 21 carries, standing still when rushing lanes opened as plain as day. Overall, it could be said (and has been) that Terrell Pryor circa 2009 has failed to reach the expectations of the Buckeye fan base.

Not only has there been criticism from the fans, there were even rumors that Pryor could be benched, or moved to wide receiver. Although we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, TP has been quite lackluster in terms of passing efficiency with a heavier load to carry, and it doesn't look to be drastically improving anytime soon.

Recently, Pryor's high school coach spoke out about the situation, stating that Pryor looked like a "robot" this weekend and hasn't been used to his full potential by the Ohio State staff. Pryor was recruited on the basis that he would learn a pro-style system that would prepare him to be an NFL quarterback.

His former coach not only critiqued the use of Pryor in his current system stating that there is much more there to use, but also said that he should be playing in a different system entirely. He (coach) then went on to even use Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's name in the interview, stating that kind of system and coaching staff would be getting more out of him.

The only question that really remains is whether or not Terrelle Pryor made the right decision. During the end of his recruitment it came down to Ohio State and Michigan, and Mr. Pryor waited nearly two months until after signing day to make the all important choice.

Michigan was left with mismatches for their system at quarterback, while Pryor had early successes at Ohio State as a true freshman in 2008. Now we see that Michigan has two highly talented dual-threat quarterbacks and their offense is humming at nearly 40 points per game, while Ohio State's offense is sputtering, and it begs the question:

Should Terrelle Pryor have went to Michigan? Would he be better off in a wide open spread scheme with an aggressive coaching staff that would encourage him to use his athleticism more frequently? The answer has to be yes.

Certainly, Pryor has been making some poor decisions on his own, and he is young, but so are Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson! Certainly Terrelle Pryor is a great athlete who has wonderful potential...but so did Juice Williams!

As Tyler Durden (Fight Club ) would say "I see all this potential, and I see it squandered." Don't get me wrong, I think Coach Tressel is a tremendous coach who may adjust, and Pryor is a great athlete who will probably come along as a passer and have a good career in retrospect. However, had he gone to Michigan we wouldn't be discussing these issues!

Would he have struggles? Absolutely. Would he be better overall as a football player? No doubt about it! Vince Young, Dennis Dixon, Pat White etc. played in systems similar to the one employed by Rich Rod and his staff, and they all flourished. Terrelle Pryor would definitely be closer to meeting the expectations within that system.

Now he is in a more conservative scheme, with a more conservative coach. Will Terrelle Pryor become the next Vince Young? Possibly. He could also become the next Juice Williams, a great athlete who never quite reaches his full potential as a runner or a passer. Which he becomes we will soon see!