First off, I need to address a minor issue that I find ridiculous.
Evidently at last weekend's game, fans made such a big deal about this "taunt"...
that the University of Minnesota was forced to issue a public apology.
Was the Gopher mocking God? C'mon now folks - no way. Goldy was doing his job to try and mess with a player. Could he have picked a different Nittany Lion to bother rather than the one in prayer - probably. But do we really have to make a big issue out of something like this before a game involving a stuffed Gopher? Unbelievable.
NOW ON TO THE MORE PRESSING TOPIC...
His name is Terrelle Pryor and he was supposed to be the second coming.
The town of Jeannette, Pennsylvania was in love in 2007. They had the biggest star on their hands since hometown hero Meadowlark Lemon strutted his stuff with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Pryor was a U.S. Army All-American and All-American Game MVP. He was a Parade All-American and National Player of the Year. He was named a 5-Star prospect by Rivals.com and eventually became the Nation's top prospect at any position. He was even a big enough star to get away with holding a press conference on signing day only to tell cameras, "I'm just here to tell everybody I need more time."
Well a few weeks later, Pryor held true to his word and decided to become the future of Ohio State football. Immediately he was given high praise and publicity and just weeks into the 2008 season was named the Buckeye's starter. It was a learning session for Pryor in that freshman campaign, but there were enough bright spots for analysts and fans alike to dub him a player to watch in 2009. Many even included him in Heisman talks for this fall.
Well, here we sit 7 weeks into the 2009 football season and Pryor is the subject of both criticism and comfort. Following a road loss to Purdue last Saturday, Pryor's high school coach Ray Reitz told reporters it was Jim Tressel's fault for his former QB's poor play-
‘‘They need Terrelle to run more. They’ve put the reins on him and they need to let him go free. When I watch Terrelle play right now, I see a robot.’’
Now, hot off the press today, the 19 year-old has sport's biggest superstar coming to his aid-
"[I'm] trying to mentor him and get him through 'life in the spotlight,' which I've been through," James said after a preseason game in Columbus on Wednesday night.
James said he has been speaking to Pryor on the phone in recent weeks to try to help him deal with celebrity at a young age.
"Being that No. 1 guy, how do you adjust to it and how do you get through it and still perform at a high level?" James said. "Sometimes it can be very difficult on [a young athlete]. I'm trying to be that guy who can really help him get through a lot of situations which he's never seen before but now he's seeing and understanding."
Here's the deal.First and foremost, I feel for Pryor. That's right Terrelle - I'm sorry for you.
Sorry that you were dumb enough to think Ohio State would feature an offense that catered to your talents.
Are you kidding me? This is the same Jim Tressel who's QB's at OSU since arriving from Youngstown St. have included the amazing athletic talents of Craig Krenzel, Justin Zwick, and Todd Boeckman. Sure there was Troy Smith, but even then, did Tressel truly utilize Smith to his full potential. Doubtful.
In his best season, Smith rushed for 611 yards on 136 attempts. Compare that to two of the Big 12's most prolific runners (since I am a K-State kid) Ell Roberson and Michael Bishop. Roberson's 3-year career tallies 2,818 yards on 600+ rushes while Bishop tacked on 1,314 yards on 324 carries in just a 2-year span. The facts speak for themselves - Terrelle, you knew you weren't going to run.
More importantly, when you come in with your swagger and your #1 ranking, don't expect hugs and kisses when the program isn't winning. Especially when you're the QB. If things go downhill, the signal caller will be the first to catch the fire from fans and even quicker if the signal caller is arguably the top prospect to ever wear the school's colors.
Listen, maybe the truth to all of this isn't even found in the numbers or the play calling. Why is it so hard for people to fathom this honest opinion after watching #2 for 2 seasons -
"TERRELLE PRYOR JUST ISN'T THAT GOOD."
It's not hard to say. It's only 6 words long. In fact, it only takes 2 seconds to roll off the tongue.
So why won't more people admit the truth? Why are so many people caught waiting for this kid to pan out?
Maybe it's the Vince Young comparisons. After all, it did take VY nearly 3 years to truly hit his stardom and comfort level.Still, that's rare. In 99.9% of cases, if you're the nation's top QB out of high school and aren't putting up numbers early, you probably just weren't as good as heralded.
Think about this : since Rivals began evaluating prospects, the top QB's of each class have included Vince Young, Kyle Wright, Mark Sanchez, Matt Stafford, Jimmy Clausen, Terrelle Pryor, and Matt Barkley. In each of the afore mentioned player's 2nd seasons, the worst is (at worst) statistically even if not slightly better than Pryor's numbers this season. Yes, even Kyle Wright.
Pryor isn't as elusive a runner as we expected and he doesn't have the arm strength nor accuracy we expected to see in Columbus.
So I pray to the sports god's above - please end this Pryor publicity.
If he comes around like many believe will happen, I'll eat crow and throw out my keyboard.
But if not... don't say I didn't tell you so.
