Terrelle Pryor Leaves Ohio State: How Does Pryor Shape Up as an NFL Prospect?

It’s official, the news we’ve been anticipating since Jim Tressel’s resignation has finally come.

The Terrelle Pryor era at Ohio State is over.

After three stormy, scrutinized, yet highly successful, seasons in Columbus, Pryor, one of the most heralded high school recruits in Buckeyes history, has finally decided that because of the mounting NCAA investigation he’s facing, it was best for him to leave the program.

Many thought this time would come back in January, when it was expected that the super-skilled quarterback would bolt for the NFL and declare for the draft after a dominant MVP performance against Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. But coach Tressel guilted Pryor into coming back and now, just five months later, both are ghosts.

Pryor leaves on a low note, after failing to deliver the national championship and Heisman Trophy that many were hoping he would capture when the superstar recruit first arrived at Ohio State.

Pryor’s collegiate legacy will no doubt be forever surrounded with disappointment and questions of what could have been. But when you sit down and take a serious look at the resume Pryor put together over the last two seasons as a full-time starter, you can’t help but be pretty impressed:

23-3 overall record

Back-to-back BCS bowl game MVPs

45 Passing Touchdowns

11 Rushing Touchdowns

Over 4,800 passing yards

Over 1,500 rushing yards

Two Big Ten Championships

And oh yeah, let's not forget he embarrassed archrival Michigan in his final home game at The Shoe.

The list of accomplishments goes on and on, but because it lacks a certain stiff-arm trophy and a certain crystal ball, most fans will look at Pryor as a college football failure.

To them, he's just another promising recruit who couldn’t deliver, a la Jimmy Clausen and the many other past five-star quarterbacks who couldn’t win the big one.

With Pryor, public perception is certainly not reality though.

Now admittedly, I’ve been one of Pryor’s biggest supporters and defenders for the last year.

I put out a small draft guide last summer, and here’s, word for word, what I said about Pryor, who I ranked as the best pro prospect in college football.

"There are very few human beings on this planet who are genetically gifted to be elite athletes, but Terrelle Pryor just so happens to be one of those people blessed with rare gifts. From the time he was a junior in high school, it was evident that Pryor was something special."

"Everyone saw it when he carried Jeannette to a state championship in his senior year of high school and soon became the biggest recruiting sensation in the nation.""

"The hype was massive when he came to Columbus and the pressure was on from the get go."

"He gave glimpses of being a star but he also had to deal with bumps in the road and criticisms along the way. His passing prowess wasn’t where it needed it to be to carry a team to a national championship as just a sophomore."

"The only thing he needed, though, was time to grow and learn."

"As we saw in the Rose Bowl, the hype was warranted and the young man is a superstar in the making."

"Maybe expectations were just a little too high early on."

Pryor has grown and transformed as not only a football player, but also as a man during his time at Ohio State. He is ready to reach the level of greatness that many expected from him when he joined the college ranks."

"His passing isn’t yet at an NFL level, but his ability is just too great to gloss over."

"There will be the doubters and the critics popping up at every turn, and Pryor will keep showing them up with each performance, just like he did in the Rose Bowl last season."

"I have a strong feeling that the Buffalo Bills will have the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, and I fully expect Chan Gailey and the organization to make Pryor the face of their franchise."

"Terrelle is a perfect fit for what the NFL is evolving into."

"He is the LeBron James of college football, and he’s a kid everyone wants to see."

"He has that rare “it” factor that doesn’t come along very often."

OK, yeah, I got a little too overzealous.

Honestly, it was just one of those summer weeks when I was in a real lovey-dovey mood, you know?

I’ll admit though, my opinion of Pryor still pretty much remains the same.

Regardless of what all the haters want to say, I still believe Terrelle Pryor can be a difference-making quarterback in the NFL.

To say he’s going to cause an evolution of the position is a bit strong, no doubt, but then again, take a look at the trends we’re witnessing at quarterback these days.

The spread offense is all the rage in college football, and we’re seeing quarterbacks who are much bigger, faster and more athletic than their predecessors in recent decades.

Yes, there are still tons of narrow-minded old schoolers who still get their kicks by downgrading guys like Cam Newton and Tim Tebow.

You can't give those type of folks enough opportunities to criticize players who are anomalies.

The same thing will happen to Pryor.

Move him to wide receiver. He can’t play quarterback in the NFL. No way!

Vince Young, Tim Tebow and Cam Newton were all given the same treatment. Maybe, just maybe, though, the majority is actually wrong in this case. Maybe guys like Tebow, Newton and Pryor are the new breed of NFL quarterback. Maybe someday soon, players like Mike Vick will be the norm not the the exception.

We know Pryor will be skewered in the media, and some of it will be well-deserved.

Still, that doesn't change the fact that right now, Pryor is a more polished quarterback prospect at this stage than Young, Tebow and Newton. And all three of them went in the first round, with Young going No. 3 and Newton going No. 1 overall

Pryor's got the prototypical size at 6’6’’ 235 lbs. He possesses out-of-this-world athletic ability and natural talent and he’s got two full years of experience as captain of one of the most prominent ships sailing in college football today.

Not a bad start.

Sure, his deficiencies and shortcomings are very evident.

All you have to do is go back and watch the 2010 Wisconsin game to see that Pryor’s arm strength rates somewhere between average and poor and his accuracy is nothing to write home about.

And yes, there are plenty of documented character and personality concerns that will turn NFL coaches off.

There have been times where I’ve seen some of the things Pryor says on Twitter under the guise TPeezy2, and it has left me wondering if this kid really "gets it," as coaches and scouts like to say.

All in all, though, if I were a GM, I’d take a second-round shot on Pryor if he does decide to enter the Supplemental Draft in July.

Say you're a team like the Bills or the Dolphins with some uncertainty at the quarterback position and no assured answer for the future.

Why not take a shot on him?

He’s absolutely a gamble but you’re also getting a guy who has slightly more upside than the player who was picked No. 1 overall this year, Cam Newton.

The most important determinant of success will be Pryor’s attitude when he first enters the NFL.

If the young quarterback can click with his coaching staff as well as the locker room full of veterans he'll be walking into, he has a shot to be a star. But if Pryor greets his new pro team with the same type of "I’m more important than you" attitude that he arrived at Ohio State with, he won’t last long.

We know Pryor can play and we know there’s no stage too bright for him, as the country has witnessed him shine in two consecutive BCS bowl game victories.

What we don’t know yet is if Pryor’s personality and immature makeup will ultimately be his downfall in the NFL.

Wherever we see Terrelle Pryor next year, whether it be in the NFL, CFL or simply sitting on the sidelines, it should be interesting to see what kind of attitude and outlook he has.

Pryor has already faced so much scrutiny and criticism from the college football masses during his three years in Columbus that it’s hard to see this as the bump in the road that finally trips him up.

There are some people that may not like it but Terrelle Pryor has an NFL future ahead of him.

Only time will tell whether that future involves putting the past behind him or not.