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

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SmoovP;1941401; said:
I have a theory about those insanely gifted guys. It goes like this.

There are those freakishly athletic guys who, until they hit the pros, are the best players on the field without really working that hard at it. From PeeWee ball on up, they dominate everyone around them on talent and superior athleticism alone.

Even at a high level college program, they can pretty much skate by on natural ability without giving it a whole lot of thought or effort. The Razorbacks had one of those guys a few years back in Matt Jones. I suspect that Cam Newton is one of those guys.

But when they hit the pros, where everyone is within a few fractions of being equal, things get exponentially more difficult for those guys.

Because they never developed the work ethic and mental drive to push themselves when things get difficult, they often flounder and fail.

It is often those guys that are a half step slower, but possess a demonically driven 'want to' who become the most valuable players on any given team in any given sport. Give me a half dozen of those guys and I'll beat the Superstar team 4 times out of 7. See the recently finished NBA championship for an example of that.

It is an exceedingly rare combination for one of those athletic freaks to also possess the drive, determination and work ethic to make the most of their freakish athleticism. Michael Jordan was one such guy. LeBron James, it appears, is not.

I'm not making a comment on Terelle Pryor specifically - he'll prove it one way or another - it's just a general observation I've thought about over the years.
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I agree with your overall thesis but lets not create revisionist history. All reports out of the WHAC over the past 3 years were that TP studied endless amounts of film and worked extra hours to refine his passing game. Teammates even said as much in interviews (no i don't have la link).

He improved leaps and bounds as a passer from the 1 read and run guy his freshman year to his Junior year where occasional bad footwork lead to some floaters and the 2 boneheaded passes per game.

TPs problem wasn't "poor work ethic of a superstar" it was "wow, I can get stuff for free without doing anything". The guy was on pace to break every passing record in the OSU books.

To me, a sign that TP wasn't putting in the work necessary would have been if his rushing yards increased from Soph to Jr. years. This would show that he is relying on athletisism and not improving his passing ability. He had fewer rushing attempts and more passing attempts.
 
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Tlangs;1941753; said:
I agree with your overall thesis but lets not create revisionist history. All reports out of the WHAC over the past 3 years were that TP studied endless amounts of film and worked extra hours to refine his passing game. Teammates even said as much in interviews (no i don't have la link).

He improved leaps and bounds as a passer from the 1 read and run guy his freshman year to his Junior year where occasional bad footwork lead to some floaters and the 2 boneheaded passes per game.

TPs problem wasn't "poor work ethic of a superstar" it was "wow, I can get stuff for free without doing anything". The guy was on pace to break every passing record in the OSU books.

To me, a sign that TP wasn't putting in the work necessary would have been if his rushing yards increased from Soph to Jr. years. This would show that he is relying on athletisism and not improving his passing ability. He had fewer rushing attempts and more passing attempts.
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Agreed.

To wit, I posted:

I'm not making a comment on Terelle Pryor specifically - he'll prove it one way or another - it's just a general observation I've thought about over the years.
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Dryden;1941750; said:
Until the SI investigation broke and JT resigned, I'd never heard any comments that he was unwelcome in the locker room either.
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There were whispers in the past about how TP wasn't exactly the most well-liked guy in the locker room... I remember Duane specifically referenced this in at least one of his past blogs.
 
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Dang - just watched the Rose Bowl again. TP was sick in that game.

Anybody know where I can get/buy a DVD of the Sugar Bowl??

The dude will go down as one of the best ever. Yeah, he could act like a monkey's ass sometimes, but he was great.

Think about it - how bad do our 4 other quarterbacks look in comparison?

I hope Terrelle gets a genuine shot to develop into an NFL QB. I think he can do it.
 
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UpNorthBuckeye;1941903; said:
Dang - just watched the Rose Bowl again. TP was sick in that game.

Anybody know where I can get/buy a DVD of the Sugar Bowl??

The dude will go down as one of the best ever. Yeah, he could act like a monkey's ass sometimes, but he was great.

Think about it - how bad do our 4 other quarterbacks look in comparison?

I hope Terrelle gets a genuine shot to develop into an NFL QB. I think he can do it.
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I'm not sure about best ever but probably top five at least. Think about it, he did more with far less talent than our more celebrated quarterbacks. Troy Smith was throwing to THREE first round WRs his Junior year and two first rounders and several other NFL WRs his Senior year. Not to mention Antonio Pittman and future first rounder Beanie Wells. Craig Krenzel had Michael effing Jenkins and arguably the most talented RB OSU has ever seen. Not to mention Chris Gamble. Who has Pryor had really? His freshman year he had Beanie Wells for half the season, Robo, and Hartline. His final two years his best receiver was an undrafted Dane Sazenbacher. Posey has first round potential but hasn't really lived up it. And let's not get into the offensive line situation.
 
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Systems_id;1941911; said:
I'm not sure about best ever but probably top five at least. Think about it, he did more with far less talent than our more celebrated quarterbacks. Troy Smith was throwing to THREE first round WRs his Junior year and two first rounders and several other NFL WRs his Senior year. Not to mention Antonio Pittman and future first rounder Beanie Wells. Craig Krenzel had Michael effing Jenkins and arguably the most talented RB OSU has ever seen. Not to mention Chris Gamble. Who has Pryor had really? His freshman year he had Beanie Wells for half the season, Robo, and Hartline. His final two years his best receiver was an undrafted Dane Sazenbacher. Posey has first round potential but hasn't really lived up it. And let's not get into the offensive line situation.
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I'd argue that this past year's offensive line is the best we've had in years and better than Troy Smith's 06 line, especially on a national level.
 
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Terrelle has been an honor roll student who is just 9 hours short of graduation after 3 years of college. I doubt he received much AP credit from Jeannette HS, so he seems to have done a lot of work at Ohio State in those 3 years, and done it well.

There's been plenty written about Pryor's poor decisions and mistakes, and properly so. But it's also proper to recognize the things he's done well as a student-athlete. He's neither a villain nor a hero; just a flawed yet talented QB.
 
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UpNorthBuckeye;1941903; said:
Dang - just watched the Rose Bowl again. TP was sick in that game.

Anybody know where I can get/buy a DVD of the Sugar Bowl??

The dude will go down as one of the best ever. Yeah, he could act like a monkey's ass sometimes, but he was great.

Think about it - how bad do our 4 other quarterbacks look in comparison?

I hope Terrelle gets a genuine shot to develop into an NFL QB. I think he can do it.
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1. If Ballard doesn't go up and get that 3rd down pass... in fairness to TP I don't think he was at full strength that day, but his passing was nothing extraordinary for a college QB. It was his running that often limited what the Oregon defense could do in pass protection. His legs sustained more drives than his arm if I recall correctly.

2. I'm convinced, from the very tiny amount of time he played wide out, that he has all the skills needed to be a top wide receiver in the NFL.

3. IMO until a Vince Young, Mike Vick, Cam Newton or TP type QB wins three or four conference titles you will have a difficult time selling anything but the drop back QB in the league. The issue of changing offense style and philosophy between a running QB and a drop back when #1 goes down is probably on the minds of GMs and coaches also.

4. DVDs of the games in question are probably available through Amazon and OSU sweatshirt/T-shirt emporiums on Lane Ave. You can also check out Rocketman's collection of games on this site. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=Ohio+State+Football&x=0&y=0"]Amazon.com: Ohio State Football - Movies & TV[/ame]
 
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MaxBuck;1941923; said:
Terrelle has been an honor roll student who is just 9 hours short of graduation after 3 years of college. I doubt he received much AP credit from Jeannette HS, so he seems to have done a lot of work at Ohio State in those 3 years, and done it well.

There's been plenty written about Pryor's poor decisions and mistakes, and properly so. But it's also proper to recognize the things he's done well as a student-athlete. He's neither a villain nor a hero; just a flawed yet talented QB.
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+1

Well said, Max.
 
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