Buckeyes football, whether from Ohio or not, players have it in their blood, and some on their skin
by Doug Lesmerises, Plain Dealer Reporter
Friday September 04, 2009
Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer
Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor shows a high level of commitment to the Buckeye program.
COLUMBUS -- Terrelle Pryor was at Ohio State less than a year before he became a Buckeye for life. This spring, the sophomore quarterback went home to Jeannette, Pa., and came back with a scarlet Block O covering most of his right forearm.
Once you add ink like that, it's hard to go back. Pryor didn't grow up with the Buckeyes, but they're part of him now.
"This is where I live now, this is my home," Pryor said when asked why he chose to mark himself with that scarlet letter. "It's in my blood now. I love Ohio State football, scarlet and gray."
But why so soon? Why would a kid from the Pittsburgh area go all-in for Ohio before he turned 20?
"These guys here are my brothers," Pryor said. "I'd die for them. I play for them. . . . Sweating with them, bleeding with them, when we ran our [conditioning tests], just to see them on their knees and getting up and running, we sweat together, we bleed together, and there's nothing else to it."
If Pryor feels that committed to the cause every moment he's on the field at Ohio Stadium today when the Buckeyes open the season against Navy, it can't help but make him a better player.