• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

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

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
I won't post all of the oregonlive.com articles tonight, but I have to present this one immediately:

John Canzano: Terrelle Pryor shows how much Oregon has to grow | John Canzano - ? OregonLive.com

PASADENA, Calif. ? Oregon didn?t kick away the 96th Rose Bowl this afternoon. It did not lose the game on offense. Or defense. Or because of a lack of size.

If we're being precise, the Ducks lost the game almost two years ago when Terrelle Pryor chose a career in Columbus over one in Eugene.

They have words for a guy like Pryor on the playground: permanent quarterback.

Ohio State beat Oregon 26-17. There's going to be a lot of talk about coach Chip Kelly's odd decision to attempt a field goal on fourth-and-1 in the final quarter. Discuss it if you'd like but if you want to pin this game on one pivotal decision, it would be the one Pryor made in 2008. He's now 20-3 as a starter.

The Buckeyes quarterback toyed with the idea of coming to Oregon, but went with Ohio State, and it became evident watching four quarters in Pasadena as Pryor was straight-arming the Ducks defensive ends silly that he was the difference. And he'd be the difference every occasion if the teams re-played this game 100 times.

"Oh, yeah," Kelly said, "he's real."

It was fitting that Pryor ended up with a single red rose bud clutched between his teeth after the game. He complete 23 of 37 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns. Pryor also led all players in the game with 72 rushing yards. Also, the lasting image of this game is Pryor rolling out, straight-arming a series of Oregon defenders into face plants.

Every time the Buckeyes needed a play, his coach rolled Pryor out and let him knock down the Ducks defenders like bowling pins.

Ohio State's time of possession advantage (42 minutes to 18 for Oregon) was largely because Pryor was terrific on third down. Seven times Pryor ran with the ball with his team facing a third down, and five times he made the markers. He converted four other third-down passes for another 63 yards and a touchdown.

"I just wanted to lead a team as well as I can," Pryor said. "You know, show the world I can be a good quarterback."

Done.

Pryor, a sophomore, said he wasn't fazed by Oregon's blitzes, and that, "We knew everything they were going to do." And maybe that's because he spent the final two days of his preparation doing nothing but poring over Ducks game footage. Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli said he had Ohio State scouted, too, but when the Ducks needed him to drop back and make a play with his arm, Masoli couldn't do it.

Pryor, 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds, beat Oregon. And if you ask him why he chose Ohio State he'll talk about the tradition of the Buckeyes, and the opportunity to compete on a national stage. The Buckeyes played in their fifth consecutive Bowl Championship Series game on Friday.

Which brings us to today's silver lining: Oregon has arrived.

The defending conference champions have 18 starters returning next season, it's not lost here that Kelly now has the ability to walk into a living room and say, "You want to play in a Rose Bowl next season?" and not get asked to leave for speaking crazy. And the momentum must continue next season, and not be lost as the Ducks did after the Fiesta Bowl victory over Colorado in 2002.

Note to the Ducks football operations department: Immediately educate ABC's Brent Musburger, who talked about the losing team's bright future in the closing minutes of the broadcast but identified Kelly's program as "The Oregon State Ducks."

Eek.

When Kelly was recruiting Pryor, all the then-coordinator had to sell was the concept of a wide-open offensive scheme. And maybe uniforms.

Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor looks for a reciever during today's Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.All that changed this afternoon.

Oregon didn't get pushed around by Ohio State. Size wasn't the advantage. In fact, the Ducks outrushed the Buckeyes 179-153 on 18 fewer carries.

Oregon got Pryor'ed. And the only thing it could have done to fix any of that ended a couple of years ago under the tenure of another head football coach.

The Ducks last appeared in a Rose Bowl in 1995, and if you're going to get absurdly-talented recruits like Pryor in the next couple of classes it becomes important that the Ducks waste no time in getting back to a BCS game.

You can't win national-stage games with a 5-foot-11 quarterback who goes 9 for 20 passing with one interception. Not when grinding and wishing for every first down and up against a Pryor-led team that can convert a third down on a broken play.

I've covered losing locker rooms in the Super Bowl, and all the time you hear things such as, "You need to make one before you win one." And I'm hoping the Ducks looked around the field after their sputtering start on Friday and thought, "We belong."

Yes, even after LeGarrette Blount kicked away a touchdown run. Even after the gun-slinging Kelly opted for a field goal attempt on a key fourth down. And even after Pryor was kissing the trophy while his coach waxed about reaching "the halfway mark" of his prized quarterback's supposed four-year college career with a bowl win.

Said Ohio State coach Jim Tressell: "We felt like he needed this."

What does Oregon need?

Masoli to grow. And Kelly to continue to get traction in the living rooms of the nation's top recruits. The Ducks need to avoid the sad fade-away job that afflicts too many rising programs. Basically, the program needs a sequel minus the early-season drama.

Friday's loss should not stand alone in the Ducks history as the big games from 1995 and 2000 have. If you're going to maximize a 10-3 season, you do it by making it a piece of continued success. It's then, and only then, that a player like Pryor will pick you over a program such as Ohio State.

Musburger didn't confuse the Buckeyes with Bowling Green or Toledo.

I bumped into Kelly after his news conference. He looked flat and flustered. His shirt was sweat-soaked. I offered, "You went 10-3 and have 18 returners, be proud of that." He looked up, and said, "I just feel so badly for my seniors. They did everything I asked of them."

It's true, those guys won't get another chance.

Here's hoping next year's seniors do.
Click to expand...

The only thing I want Buckeye fans to take from this is the praise of Terrelle. He deserves every ounce. On all other topics/discussions, Canzano is an ass hat. The Oregon Ducks played a sound game. The Buckeyes were just better.
 
Upvote 0
Terrelle really was humbled by what happened earlier this year. He is now always talking about how much he loves his teammates and says that none of this would be possible without his teammates, coaches, and God. I think this has really helped Terrelle to work and realize that he can be an incredible player and a complete quarterback.

He was so composed and so prepared for this game. Not to mention the leadership abilities he's demonstrating.

You are well on your way Mr. Pryor. Keep working hard, and take the confidence from this game and let it help you to unleash all of your tools and abilities. Next year Terrelle is gonna go nuts on the college football world. Watch out!!!! GO BUCKEYES!!!
 
Upvote 0
muffler dragon;1632799; said:
I won't post all of the oregonlive.com articles tonight, but I have to present this one immediately:

John Canzano: Terrelle Pryor shows how much Oregon has to grow | John Canzano - ? OregonLive.com
Click to expand...

The best part:

I bumped into Kelly after his news conference. He looked flat and flustered. His shirt was sweat-soaked. I offered, "You went 10-3 and have 18 returners, be proud of that." He looked up, and said, "I just feel so badly for my seniors. They did everything I asked of them."
Click to expand...

Chip Kelly is a class act as far as I'm concerned.

Also, how about all that talk about how Pryor should be regretting his decision to not go to M*ch*g*n or not go to Oregon, and how Ohio State was not utilizing him to the best of his abilities? Well, he just beat them back-to-back. He's 2-0 against the former and Rose Bowl MVP.

Also all that talk about where people think Pryor should have gone, if this game was really won two years ago when Pryor decided to come to Columbus, that's a real credit to Jim Tressel and his staff and the program they've maintained for almost a decade now. People talk too much about the decisions he makes on one play or another, but not enough about the things he does to get players like Pryor into the program in the first place.
 
Upvote 0
jwinslow;1632815; said:
Chip is a class act. He went into the locker room to congratulate our buckeyes, and told Pryor he played like he knew he would.
Click to expand...

I know that Musberger mentioned that Kelly attended several of TP's Bball games during recruiting and always has words of praise concerning Pryor...Chip is definitely the classy one out of the Kelly coaches. That other Asshat at Notre Dame is a joke. Has anyone noticed that not only has Pryor matured on the field, but his interviews are getting better too? TP is really coming into his own.
 
Upvote 0
Bob Hunter commentary: Pryor's potential finally realized
Saturday, January 2, 2010
By Bob Hunter
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

PASADENA, Calif. -- Terrelle Pryor went back to the future in the Rose Bowl, at least to a future nearly everyone foresaw when Ohio State recruited him.

This was the composite running-throwing machine recruiters slobbered over, the dangerous either-or Pryor that coaches saw in their dreams. It was the Pryor that Buckeyes fans expected and even demanded almost from his first game as a freshman, and sometimes wondered whether they would ever see. This was the Pryor everyone knew he could be.

There have been flashes of this Pryor so bright they were almost blinding, but, alas, they were only flashes. As time wore on, the flesh-and-blood Pryor seemed to be more of a runner than a quarterback, especially after a four-turnover game at Purdue that sent the Ohio State offense skidding back toward the days of Woody Hayes.

Pryor had attempted only 17 passes in each of the team's last three regular-season games, but all of that changed in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes threw the ball on the first two plays -- missing one and completing the other -- and Pryor took off on a 24-yard scramble on the third play. The next three plays were completed passes, and the 74-yard drive ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass, the eighth pass of the drive, to Brandon Saine.

By the end of the game, Pryor had completed 23 of 37 passes for 266 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception, and added 72 yards rushing on 20 carries. After the Buckeyes' 26-17 win, there was little question who would be the offensive MVP.
Click to expand...

Bob Hunter commentary: Pryor's potential finally realized | BuckeyeXtra

At long last, there can be no doubt: Terrelle Pryor's future (and Ohio State's) is now -- Bill Livingston
By Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer
January 02, 2010

pryormcljpg-27f9ac817c688d3d_large.jpg

Neal C. Lauron / Columbus Dispatch
Terrelle Pryor danced away from Oregon's John Boyett for a first down on this first-quarter scramble Friday in the Rose Bowl. Pryor threw for 266 yards and ran for 72 more in dominating the game and earning the MVP award.

PASADENA, Calif. -- Silver victory confetti sparkled in the Rose Bowl lights when the Granddaddy of Them All ended in a roar of victory from the Ohio State stands. The glittering blizzard looked like leftovers from the biggest New Year's Eve bash you could imagine.

The new year rang in a newly resolute Ohio State team with a new quarterback in Terrelle Pryor who is no longer about promises unkept, but instead about promise being fulfilled. The Buckeyes beat favored Oregon, 26-17, in the Rose Bowl, and Pryor, the sophomore who was more heralded than any quarterback in OSU history when he came to Columbus, made the game his own victory parade.

He said when he came to Columbus that he would help coach Jim Tressel "get over that little hump" in the biggest games. Hump day was Friday. It marked the end of his sophomore season, the midpoint of his college career and the first, but probably not the best, day of the rest of his life.

Pryor was the Most Valuable Player. He was involved in 57 plays (a stunning 37 passes, with 20 completions for 266 yards and two touchdowns). He ran 20 times for more yards than anyone on the field (72). He had 338 yards of total offense. Oregon's astro-offense managed only 53 plays all game and just 260 yards.
Click to expand...

At long last, there can be no doubt: Terrelle Pryor's future (and Ohio State's) is now -- Bill Livingston | Bill Livingston: Plain Dealer Sports Columnist's Blog - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top