QB/WR Terrelle Pryor ('10 Rose, '11 Sugar MVP)

[buckeyes_rock]

+100. A freshman who will be going full bore into classes for the first time in college, a freshman who deserves to be developed prior to being thrown to the wolves, a freshman who -- if handled correctly -- will lead this team to a very bright future.

While encouraged by everything I saw with him on and off the field last night, putting the hopes and dreams of a (very large) Buckeye Nation on his shoulders while he is basically getting acclimated to college life may be a little much for even this apparent Superman. Let's trust JT on this one. There is already a lot riding on TP, no sense in piling on if it isn't yet time.

One thing for sure, he?s going to be very special if his development on and off the field continue in their current direction. I?m sure we?re all looking forward to the day that he rightfully steps on the field as the undisputed leader of our team.

For now, and forever... they are our Buckeyes.

\

 

[WyoBuckeye]

Remember back when Zwick and Smith were competing for the starting job? Often times it seemed like the entire team seemed to perk up and play better when Troy was in. Not always, but there was a definite trend. Well this situation is starting to remind me of that. For some reason Pryor seems to provide a lift to the whole team. With that being said, I would like to see what Pryor could do if he could get the starting nod and let him lead the team for at least an entire half. I would love to see him what he can do once he is allowed to really get into a groove in a game.

As for Todd, I don't think it is neccessary to give up on him yet, but things just don't seem to be working when he is in there right now. I hope that this does not qualify as a "bash" against a player. If so then by all means ban me. But teams seem to have figured out that if you pressure Todd, he makes mistakes and shows little mobility.

I think the writing on the wall for me is that fact that Pryor even factored into the game plan for USC to begin with. Other than coming in for mop-up duty or in certain situations, Pryor as a true freshman would not be seeing much playing time if Boeckman was as solid as he needs to be.

 

[HilmerJ]

even if he is a freshman he still could be the best player in the stadium...the best players play

people were saying that we coule use pryor like florida used tebow, but for a 2qb system to work well, both qbs have to be effective.

 

[Buckeye_Nate]

Put me in the camp that would like to see the team turned over to Terrelle at this point, he is the future and last night the future became now.

I understand that there is still a lot to play for at this point and there is no question that there will be growing pains along the way.

That said, when you pair the fact that the QB play over the last 5-6 games has been somewhere between mediocre and flat out bad with the fact that TP appears to have the ability and desire to make an immediate impact and gain some valuable experience, the move just becomes a no brainer to me.

As an obviously frustrating game wore on last night, TP seemed to remain determined to make a difference and play with some fire, while Boeckmans head started to hang.

There is really little doubt that Pryor will start to get significantly more playing time at this point...but I hope he actually gets named the starter, sooner rather than later.

 

[unionfutura]

I wouldn't

I think people are over-reacting about Pryor. If you put Pryor in you get an offense with about 10 to 15 plays. We would lose two or three games that we shouldn't have.

Bottom line is this, we lost this game far before Saturday. Our pre-game strategy was bad, I think it was a mistake telling the other team your best player is out two days before the game, I also witnessed a team without any real leaders. Tons of guys can fire you up when things are going great, however when adversity hits this team clams up and becomes silent.

To put our troubles all on Todd's shoulders is a mistake. He's got his limitations but isn't the most glaring issue on this team.

 

[Taosman]

Well said, Union!
Can you be a little more specific from your point of view?

 

[Brutus1]

To put our troubles all on Todd's shoulders is a mistake. He's got his limitations but isn't the most glaring issue on this team.

Not all the troubles, just the qb troubles. Todd's mobility or lack thereof, just magnifies any weakness along the o-line. That's not a problem with TP. Will he have other problems? Sure he will, but it's not like TB has been lights out when given the time. He's still made bad throws.

I think with Wells out and TB's mobility, right now is the perfect time to put TP in for more than a few token series.

The book is out on TB and you can bet your ass, every one in the Big 10 is reading it, especially without the threat of beanie.

 

[kinch]

:(

 

[unionfutura]

Not all the troubles, just the qb troubles. Todd's mobility or lack thereof, just magnifies any weakness along the o-line. That's not a problem with TP. Will he have other problems? Sure he will, but it's not like TB has been lights out when given the time. He's still made bad throws.

I think with Wells out and TB's mobility, right now is the perfect time to put TP in for more than a few token series.

The book is out on TB and you can bet your ass, every one in the Big 10 is reading it, especially without the threat of beanie.

We wouldn't have won this game if Troy Smith and Beanie Wells was out there. The defense blew more assignments in that game since well the Florida game. Our defense played scared from the the go and no matter what Todd or Terrelle would have done, it wouldn't have been enough.

Todd is still the same QB who lead our team to undefeated regular season big ten championship. He'll do it again this year.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I think people are over-reacting about Pryor. If you put Pryor in you get an offense with about 10 to 15 plays. We would lose two or three games that we shouldn't have.

Going forward without Beanie, this OL, these WR's, TB and this scheme we will lose at least 2-3 more anyway. The defense and kicking game are not strong enough to offset this offense imo.

Bottom line is this, we lost this game far before Saturday. Our pre-game strategy was bad, I think it was a mistake telling the other team your best player is out two days before the game, I also witnessed a team without any real leaders. Tons of guys can fire you up when things are going great, however when adversity hits this team clams up and becomes silent.

agree 100%. This team has done the exact opposite of what OSU teams did in big games the first few years of JT's tenure. They crap down their collective leg in big games/facing adversity.

To put our troubles all on Todd's shoulders is a mistake. He's got his limitations but isn't the most glaring issue on this team.

CK had limitations, TB kills us with turnovers.

I would rank the teams issues (minus any comments on coaching) as

1a) mental toughness
1b) DL
1c) QB

 

[unionfutura]

Well said, Union!
Can you be a little more specific from your point of view?

Sure, when we went into the 2002 championship game we had the world is against us, believe in yourself montra. We lost that swagger after the 2006 Michigan game when the team believed they were better than the New England Patroits. Guys got cocky, guys got selfish. Florida embarrases us, and the team responds by go into a hole.

After Florida we lost a ton of leadership, guys who the others looked up to, we won in 2007 based on purely talent. We lost to Illinois sure, but every team loses a game every now and then. Hell LSU lost two that year. The fact remained this was a artifical confident team. When the media started to print wondering why is OSU back in the championship game. Will they get embarrassed again? It felt like to me the team wondered that too before the game! If we had half the attitude we have for the Michigan games we would have beat LSU.

This is a team without any real leadership, and a coaching staff that believes their system doesn't need adjusting because it's a proven winner. I don't disagree with that, you are what you are. As long as you excute you can beat the USC's of the world. Hell USC's offense is no secret, but they excute it. Same with their defense.

USC believed for OSU to beat them they would have to throw the ball, so they just pass rushed every down. That's why Pryor looked effective every so often. He's not a long term answer yet. He could be one day, and I believe he's the future. But we have a ton to play for this year, and it's not his time yet.

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself this. Do you believe that USC is top to bottom a more talented team than OSU? I don't, but they were better prepared, and more comfortable in their skin than OSU. That my friends was the difference.

Also Joe McKnight is ridiculous. Good lord is that boy made of mercury?

 

[Oneshot]

I was at the game yesterday (sigh. My other one was the Illinois game. I should really stop going), and Pryor was definitely a vocal leader on this team.

every time out, he was walking out on the field talking up the o-linemen (But I did notice that he was trying to console Rehring at one point. In the second quarter.), encouraging his teammates with that fire in his eyes.

Coming out of the tunnel for the second half, he was the one running up and down the squad getting in peoples' faces.

I have no doubt that he has taken a leadership role in the same way that MoC did, that Troy did.

I would be very surprised to see Pryor NOT start.

 

[NFBuck]

I stayed up and watched a few minutes of Tressel's press conference. I think the QB job is now wide open. He did not say Todd is still the starter. TP needs to see a lot of the field this week.

That was certainly very telling. Add on how much JT lit up when talking about TP after fall practices began and it's hard to not imagine that we're in the midst of a fullblown QB "controversy". Hate to see that it's come to that, but it's where we are. TB has had seven consecutive games where he has looked like a lower-tier Big-10 QB. Yes TP is still very green, but if/when Beanie gets healthy, he can help offset that. With the issues sourrounding the OL right now, it's just too hard to see Boeckman recovering.

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

If we had half the attitude we have for the Michigan games we would have beat LSU.

I would argue that if we gave Beanie Wells the ball as many times as we did in the Michigan game, we would have won.

This is a team without any real leadership, and a coaching staff that believes their system doesn't need adjusting because it's a proven winner.

I don't know how the coaching staff can still believe that after UF, LSU and SC.

USC believed for OSU to beat them they would have to throw the ball, so they just pass rushed every down. That's why Pryor looked effective every so often. He's not a long term answer yet. He could be one day, and I believe he's the future. But we have a ton to play for this year, and it's not his time yet.

I bet LSU too believed that for OSU to beat them Boeckman would have to throw the ball. But that's a false premise, and so is this one. I don't understand the whole getting caught up looking at every game from a macro top-down level. By doing that, a coach, a general or a CEO can easily overlook micro-level opportunities that comes up in the course of a game. And this is only a game, four quarters, that's it. It seemed obvious to me that Pryor was having a lot of success running and dumping it off to sideline WRs, just as it was obvious that Wells was tearing up LSU's defense on his way to 200 yards. I don't see why as a coaching staff, we flat out refuses to analyze the game situation and adjust accordingly.

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

To add to that, I bet Miami too believed that OSU would have to throw the ball to win that game. But that too was a false premise. The difference in that game was that we didn't have the arrogant attitude of "if we stick to this we'll be fine". Instead, we saw an opportunity when Krenzel began to have success chipping away at Miami's defense, and we stuck to it for the rest of the game. I don't understand why we didn't stick to Pryor when he was having success, or why we didn't stick with Beanie in the 2nd qt of LSU when the dude had 89 yards in the first quarter!