Terrelle Pryor: Why He Needs To Leave for the NFL After This Season
Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor is finishing up his third season with the Buckeyes. In some ways he has been a tremendous success. In some ways he's been a fairly big disappointment.
Two and a half years ago, Pryor had a tremendous decision to make: where he would choose to play college football.
This winter, he'll have to make another: return for a senior season or head for the NFL.
Maybe he'll want to "finish what he started" and bring the Buckeyes and head coach Jim Tressell another national championship.
Or maybe he's ready to start the next stage of his career.
Here are 10 reasons he should make the jump.
No. 10: School Work
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It has very little to do with football, but if you can start your professional job a year early (and get paid literally millions of dollars in the process) why not take it?
Even if Pryor is taking the easiest work load imaginable, he still (presumably) has to go to class, do work, take exams, etc. That is on top of practice during the season, offseason conditioning, film study, game plan meetings, two-a-days, etc.
It may be a small factor but for a 21-year-old it plays a role in the decision.
No. 9: Dane Sanzenbacher Graduates
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In three years as a starter, Pryor has had to break in several different receivers.
Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline were key members of the receiving corps in Pryor's freshman season. They left in 2008.
This year, his top receiver is Dane Sanzenbacher, a senior who has been a security blanket of sorts the previous two seasons.
Junior Devier Posey should be back for the 2011 season, but breaking in another starting receiver might be a major headache for the senior. There isn't an underclassman on the team with 10 catches in 2010.
No. 8: Nebraska
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Nebraska joins the Big Ten next fall.....or maybe it will be the new Big 12 since there are 12 teams.
Many critics are quick to slap down the Big Ten and say it's overrated or that it's simply not as good as it was in the "good old days."
The same was said about the Cornhuskers not so long ago. But there is little denying that Nebraska is back as a powerhouse under Bo Pelini. They probably should have won the Big XII title game last year. In 2010, they are a touchdown shy of being undefeated at this point and contending for a national title.
With Taylor Martinez just a freshman, the Cornhuskers might be the favorite to win the first ever (championship game granted) Big Ten championship.
But the Blackshirt defense is just as formidable. Pryor might want to take on that challenge.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 7: A Rose Bowl Sendoff
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Despite their loss at Wisconsin back in mid-October, the Buckeyes still have a very good chance of reaching the Rose Bowl if they win out (Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State all have one conference loss).
Wisconsin still has three Big Ten games to play, including a trip to the Big House.
The Spartans have to travel to Happy Valley along with a tough home game against Purdue.
And because the Buckeyes have a head-to-head with Iowa they can personally knock the Hawkeyes out of the race.
That should lead to a second straight trip to Pasadena, where Pryor was outstanding last New Year's Day.
He went 23-for-37 with 267 yards, two touchdowns and carried the ball 20 times for 72 yards as the Buckeyes defeated Oregon 26-17.
A second straight performance like that would make him a Rose Bowl legend and would be a great audition for NFL scouts.
No. 6: Denard Robinson
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The stakes for the 2010 Ohio State-Michigan game won't be nearly as high as they were in 2002, 2003 or 2006. Neither team has a shot at winning the National Championship.
And although hype isn't needed for the famous border war, there is an extra bit of mystery to this year's showdown.
It should be Denard Robinson's first start against the Buckeyes, his first appearance at the Horseshoe and his first appearance against the Buckeyes since becoming a superstar.
Robinson is the next great star in college football, and rather than share the national spotlight with a player in his conference, Pryor might prefer to move on to the biggest stage of them all, the NFL.
No. 5: Tougher Road to the National Championship
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If Pryor's main reason for coming back for a senior season is to win a national championship, it will be the hardest earned in Big Ten history.
Even if you forget the fact that the 2011 Ohio State team has to play Michigan (at the Big House) and Nebraska (at Lincoln), the Buckeyes have a terribly difficult schedule.
They have another trip to Champagne to play Illinois, where they have struggled in recent years against Ron Zook's mediocre team. They also go to West Lafayette to play Purdue, where they lost in 2009.
Home games against Toledo and Akron should be easy wins, but when they play Colorado they'll be facing a completely new opponent in every sense of the word.
If they manage to win each of those games, they still have trips to South Florida to play Miami and home games against Top 10 BCS teams Michigan State and Wisconsin.
And if that's not enough, in order to win the Big Ten (and thus play in the BCS Title Game), they'll have to win the first ever Big Ten Title Game in Indianapolis.
No. 4: He's Not Vince Young
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Texas quarterback Vince Young had an amazing performance as a sophomore against Michigan in the 2004 Rose Bowl.
But certainly wanted to win a national championship for the Longhorns. And he did. But he also knew that to be a high draft pick and a successful professional quarterback, his passing accuracy would need to improve drastically. Critics questioned his arm strength and accuracy.
That offseason, he worked extremely hard on his passing and the 2005 season was as much an audition for the NFL as it was a race to a Big XII and national title.
But Pryor already has shown he's a very capable passer. He's completed 67 percent of his passes in 2010 and has seven 200-yard passing games in the Buckeyes' nine contests.
Of course he can get better with an extra year, but compared to Vince Young, there should be fewer (not zero, but fewer) questions about Pryor's ability to complete passes.
No. 3: An Impressive Resume
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Because of all the hype that surrounded his signing, there were tremendous expectations of Pryor.
But if he leaves Columbus without a national championship, it doesn't mean he was a bust.
He has led the Buckeyes to a Rose Bowl win, a Fiesta Bowl appearance and most likely another BCS bowl this year. Twice he has been an Honorable Mention Big Ten Player of the Year. And his record as a starter is 27-4.
As the centerpiece of the team, that cannot be considered a failed career.
No. 2: Cam Newton
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Let's assume that Cam Newton is totally innocent of everything he has been accused of.
That would mean that someone is just making up lies about him in order to bring him down, while he is just about to become a national superstar. That is essentially what Auburn's AD has stated, that these people are just trying to tear down a player for no good reason.
If they are lies, then what's to stop someone else from making similar accusations against Terrelle Pryor, or Andrew Luck or Dayne Crist.
Allegations against star players are now routine in college football. Pryor might be sick of the trend and go where those allegations have no meaning: the NFL.
No. 1: Matt Leinart
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The USC quarterback is a cautionary tale to at least consider.
He was thought to be the number one overall pick had he come out in 2005. As it happened, Alex Smith was.
Instead he stayed at USC, lost the Rose Bowl to Vince Young and dropped to 10th, drafted seven places after Young. He was able to do nothing with the Cardinals, was (twice) replaced by Kurt Warner, who took the job and replayed his come-from-nowhere legend.
Leinart is now third on the Houston Texans depth chart, behind Dan Orlovsky. He may turn out to be a "Jim Plunkett," like Al Davis referenced when the Raiders signed Jason Campbell, but it's not looking likely.
Maybe Matt Leinart would have been a bust in the NFL had he come out following the 2004 NCAA season and not stayed for a senior season. And maybe that senior season did nothing to effect his 2006 NFL draft status. We'll never know. But it's a bad precedent for Pryor to follow.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
