NFL Rumors: What Is the Difference Between Cam Newton and Terrelle Pryor?

Regardless of whether or not Terrelle Pryor plays for the Buckeyes in 2011 or tries to join the NFL in a supplemental draft, or doesn't play football next fall, he has a long way to go to being considered a first round NFL prospect (Even if he were a first round talent, should he miss the 2011 season, that will greatly hurt his status).

To a large extent, that makes sense. He has flaws in his game and is the center of a terribly public college football scandal. But so was Cam Newton, and that didn't keep him from being the number one overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.

There are a great many differences between Newton and Pryor: stats, national championships, individual accolades, degree of culpability in their scandals, etc. And since Newton had several months, a combine and individual workouts, he had countless chances to impress scouts, coaches and GMs.

But they do have very similar strengths: They're about the same height, and although Newton is much beefier, Pryor is faster. Newton also seems to be a much more accurate passer with more arm strength.

And in the end, Pryor may prove to be more Marcus Vick than Michael Vick, while Newton turns out to be Ben Roethlisberger or John Elway.

Still, I can't help but think that expectations are a part of the apparently enormous gap between Newton's draft stock and Pryor's.

Even before he enrolled in college Pryor was on the national stage, and football fans knew him by name. He was at the center of the most highly publicized high school-to-college recruitment in history. And when he signed with Ohio State, he was expected to be a Heisman winner and produce at least one national championship, expectations that were validated when he went 9-1 as a true freshman starting quarterback in the Big Ten.

Since then, he's had some big games (the 2010 Rose Bowl most notably) and led Ohio State to conference titles and consecutive BCS Bowl game wins. Still, he has not lived up to his hype, and given the mess at Ohio State (and his five-game, if not more, suspension), he probably never will. No matter what type of numbers he posts at the combine, many people are going to look at that and think he was "a failure" at OSU.

By contrast, Cam Newton could not have possibly been more successful at Auburn: In his only year at Auburn, he went 14-0 as a starter, won the Heisman and delivered the Tigers a national championship. That tends to negate whatever happened in Gainesville.

In a perfect setup, both Pryor and Newton would be measured purely on their athletic abilities and the so-called intangibles rather then their "legacy" or lack thereof. But the NFL Draft process—from January to late April—has a way of overshadowing the true measurables with tangential issues. Even if those have nothing to do with "character issues."