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High School Views: Let's help a gifted athlete make a tough decision
Friday, December 01, 2006
By Colin Dunlap, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
These two things are without question.
First, Jeannette junior Terrelle Pryor is an exceptional two-sport talent. The likes of his mixture of football and basketball prowess is seldom seen here, or anywhere in the country for that matter. At 6 feet 6, 215 pounds, he is one of the most impressive athletes the WPIAL has, in its 100 years, ever showcased.
Secondly, it is only an extremely minute segment of the athletically inclined population who can play football and basketball at a high NCAA Division I level program, as Pryor has indicated he would like to do.
Guys such as Charlie Ward at Florida State, Tony Gonzalez at California and Antwaan Randle El and earlier Quinn Buckner at Indiana are a few who come to mind and then, after that, the pickings are very slim.
I've been of the school of thought that Pryor's best chance, if he'd like to someday get paid for his athletic superiority, is to ditch basketball in college and go full-bore at a future on the football field. It might be as a quarterback, a receiver, a tight end or even an outside linebacker or defensive rush end, but, to me, a future in the NFL is a real possibility if he continues to progress.
Remember a few years ago when Darrelle Revis came out of Aliquippa High School and the scuttlebutt was that he would play both football and basketball at Pitt?
Well, after a pickup game or two with the Pitt basketball team, Revis made the decision that football was the safest bet to transform his athletic ability into cash. If you need proof if Revis made the correct decision, ask to look at his bank statement in a few months. That's when he'll most likely be a first-round NFL draft pick at cornerback and see millions of dollars as the by-product of his decision to let go of his basketball dreams.
Is a future in the NBA a possibility for Pryor? Well, yeah, it could be. Emphasis on could.
But, my argument is that there are a whole lot of 6-6 guys who do what Pryor does on a basketball floor, but very few on a football field.
For that reason alone, if I were guiding the young man, I'd advise him that football could be the ticket on cashing in to the furthest degree on his athletic ability.
So tell me what you think. What should Terrelle Pryor do?
Do you agree with me that he should pursue football -- and only football -- at the collegiate level?
Should his focus narrow to basketball only? Or, is he the rarest of rare athletes who can play football and basketball at a high-level Division I school?
Send me your e-mails concerning what you think Pryor's best decision would be. Get them to me by Monday morning at 8 a.m. and when this column appears again on Tuesday, I'll list some of the better constructed arguments. As always, remember to list your first name and hometown if you'd like your response considered for publication.
