Originally published September 2011 but thought it was worth a second look with T.P. making his move with the Raiders and starting the final pre-season game this Thursday..  - Colin

Terrelle Pryor will be an NFL Quarterback (And he has a chance to be Ohio State’s most successful pro Q.B. ever)

When Terrelle Pryor committed to Ohio State, he was considered not only the top high school quarterback prospect in the nation, but regarded as the overall top prospect by many recruiting services. He was the MVP of U.S. ARMY All American Bowl and after enrolling at Ohio State he set a freshman record by throwing four touchdown passes in his first start against TROY, in only the third game of the season.

It was around this moment, as I was sitting in the stands with my 4 year old son Owen, I remember hearing the first of what would become a chorus of many Buckeye fans commenting, “You know, we should really consider moving Terrelle to wide receiver or.. tight end”

Huh? Come again?

My first reaction was thinking how embarrassing that would be to our coaching staff. Could you imagine Nick Saban, Pete Carrol or Urban Meyer (!) landing the #1 Quarterback recruit in the country and switching his position? No, of course you can’t, because that would never happen. See: Tim Tebow. Good luck recruiting the next quarterback-BTW

Certainly, TP was extremely raw coming out of Jennette, PA. In fact, I blame his middle school “mentor” for not correcting his 7th grade throwing motion because that’s when it should have been done. However, there is this thing called “coaching”, and it is supposed to make the players better. That’s why young guys pick Ohio State. Troy Smith had half the skills of TP yet somehow won the Heisman Trophy and ended up taking snaps on Sundays.

Forget my opinion. Place your eyeballs on the numbers.

Comp %              Yards               TD     INT                QB Rating

1             61.1                  2636                 15      12                   131.70

2             61.6                  2942                 15      10                   126.40

3             65.5                  2772                 27      11                   157.9

4             61.6                  2903                 19        5                   146.60

5             65.0                   2247                15        3                    152.30

6             59.2                   1849                12        11                  128.40

7             64.4                   2746                30          4                  172.40

8             61.9                   3909                25          12                133.10

Hmm.. What do we have here? These are the junior year college passing statistics of 8 quarterbacks who are currently on NFL rosters.

Since Terrelle can’t throw, I guess he should be easy to spot…

Answers: 1) Tom Brady 2) Matt Ryan  3) Terrelle Pryor  4) Aaron Rodgers   5) Alex Smith  6) Vince Young (redshirted so this is his 3 year counting that) 7) Tim Tebow  8) Drew Brees

(Isn’t it interesting that the two guys with the highest college passer rating are both candidates to move to tight end? Tim Tebow and Terrelle Pryor. Denver traded 3 draft picks and gave Timmy 8.7 million guaranteed for the honor of snagging him 25th overall in the 2009 draft. Coach Josh McDaniels has since been fired for this move. The Raiders gave TP a cool $500,000 and used a 3rd round pick. Al Davis has not fired himself yet. *)

Oh, in addition to the gaudy passing stats, TP also ran for 756 yards averaging 5.6 a clip and 4 touchdowns that season. And.. He was voted MVP of the Sugar Bowl. It was his second straight BCS MVP award following his huge game against the Oregon Ducks the previous year in the Rose Bowl. Just so we are clear, these awards are voted on by impartial writers who sit and actually watch the game. They do not work for either school.

Still, I have to listen to the local sports drive time radio hacks, (yes, I am a loser for tuning in) go on and on and on about how Terrelle Pryor is BAD and has NO SHOT of ever taking a snap in the NFL. Inevitably, our hosts “King Prong” and “The Jazz Singer” open up the phone lines and I’m subjected to Joe Shitpack from Grovetucky, “Woody wouldn’t let those guys have tattoos. I’d bet big money that we never beat Michigan again before Terrelle take a snap in the pros. They should move him to Tight End”

Maybe it’s the baseball fan in me, but I’m sorry, the numbers show that Terrelle Pryor ABSOLUTELY has a chance to play QB in the NFL. Look at the cold hard numbers won’t you? Add to that his pedigree, natural size 6’5” / speed 4.36 – 40, and it looks like a great value pick in the 3rd round for the Silver and Black.

But…..he was drafted by the Raiders who are one of the most inept franchises in all sports. (Bengals, Clippers, Pirates, Bluejackets**) This could prove to be TP’s biggest hurdle. Even Randy Moss in his prime, sucked when he played for the Raiders.

Still, comparisons between Pryor and Oakland’s historic bust Jemarcus Russell are way off base. Other than both being African American, they have almost nothing in common. Russell won a national title, was picked #1 overall, signed a HUGE contract, 31.5 million guaranteed, and then literally ate himself out of the league. He had no desire. His lack of work ethic became legendary.

TP’s selfish actions in college hurt his teammates, fans and coaches. His Jupiter sized ego and immaturity are legendary as well, but… TP was also a fine student (3.4 GPA) with a stellar work ethic and desire to be the best.

Hmm.. A selfish person + huge ego + good work ethic + freak physical talents  =     almost every great athlete. Jordon/TO/Barry Bonds/Kobe/Ray Lewis/Larry Bird/Brett Favre  .......  so on and so forth..

Colin, seriously, do you really think Terrelle could be the Buckeye’s most successful QB in the NFL?

Why does my opinion matter? Why not just ask people who get paid big money and have a full time job figuring out the answer to just this question. (And I’m not talking about King Prong and The Jazz Singer on The Fan.)

OSU Quarterbacks in the NFL Draft:

Player-year-round taken

Terrelle Pryor -2011-   3

Troy Smith     2007-   5

Craig Krenzel 2004-   5

Steve Bellisari 2002-  6

Joe Germaine  1991-  4

Bob Hoying    1996-  3

Kent Graham   1992- 8

Tom Tupa        1988- 3

Jim Karsatos    1987- 12

Art Schlichter   1982- 1

Corny Greene   1976- 11

Greg Hare         1974- 8

Rex Kern-         1971- 10

Ron Maciejowski  71- 15

Frank Kremblas 1959- 23

So according to experts who get paid to be the judge of this sort of thing, Art Schlichter is the only prospect seen with more potential than Pryor. As long as T.P. keeps hanging at tattoo shops and not racetracks, he should be able to pass Art with ease.  Tupa went 3rd round because of his exceptional punting and because he could be a serviceable 3rd string QB thus saving a roster spot.

Bob Hoying went round 3 too, but had three major advantages over Pryor:

1-He had a monster senior season. Dumbass Pryor screwed his up and never got the chance.

2-His offense had Eddie George, Ricky Dudley, Terry Glenn and Orlando Pace. All four won national awards for their position that year.

3-Bob had an actual quarterback coach in Walt Harris. TP had no such luxury.

At any rate, the “drive by” draft experts seem to have Hoying and Pryor in a dead heat.

If you ask me, Frank Kremblas was the one Buckeye who really got screwed on draft day. The Canton Bulldogs were all set to draft “Single Wing Action Frank” in the 16th round before the squad was disbanded after owner John Coshocton had the team’s locker room turned into a fallout bomb shelter for his family. “Special Action K” fell all the way to the Giants in the 23 round and spent his career backing up Y.A. Title. However, his signing bonus of 3 cartons of Lucky Strikes smokes was a record for a 23round pick at the time.

Pop Quiz:
Q: Who is Ohio State’s all time best NFL Quarterback????? (Post Eisenhower)

A:  Mike Tomzack!

Mike, who was undrafted, ended up playing in the NFL for 14 years throwing for over 16,000 yards and 88 TD passes. He won his first ten starts for the Bears setting an NFL record and led the Pittsburgh Steelers into the playoffs in 1996. And also….  I’d pump out more stats but it’s really late, my wife is pissed and the beer…..just click below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Tomczak

So let’s rephrase the question:

Colin, do you really think Terrelle Pryor will have a better pro career than Mike Tomzack and become Ohio State’s most successful NFL Quarterback?

Actually, no, I don’t. But that may have less to do with TP and more to do with me living in Ohio. See, I find it impossible that ANY pro quarterback will succeed. Outside of Oakland, Ohio is the state where Professional Quarterbacks come to die. After watching the Browns and Bengals all these years, I have a hard time picturing any quarterback succeeding in the NFL. Let alone one from Ohio State.

As for Pryor, I can’t say I have forgiven and forgotten, but the best thing for Ohio State and TP in the long run is to look to Cris Carter for an example. Cris was kicked out of school his senior year for taking money from an agent, which led to Coach Bruce being fired. Cris went on to being cut in the NFL by Buddy Ryan before turning his life and career around. Now when he comes back to Columbus, all we can remember are the good times we had watching him during his time at OSU and those amazing catches against Michigan and Texas A.M. 

Wouldn’t it be great to see Terrelle Pryor, Coach Tressel and the rest of the 2010 Rose Bowl Champions standing on the field at halftime in the year 2029 celebrating their 20 year reunion?

O  H   I  O

Colin Gawel has spent his whole life living less than 5 miles from Ohio Stadium and playing in the cult band Watershed featured in the novel “Hitless Wonder”, by Joe Oestreich.  He writes things for Pencilstorm in between serving customers at Colin's Coffee.  And once a year, he loses control and throws a Nerf football really hard at some inanimate object when the Buckeyes lose. (Football or basketball) Sometimes this results in damage and/or marital strife.

 

* Al Davis has died since this article was originally published

** Funny how all of those teams have improved so much in just two years

Secret Hidden Track

Secret Hidden Track!

To read a really good Braxton Miller article by a real life professional writer click here  http://joeoestreich.com/2011/06/10/congratulations-you%e2%80%99re-an-ohio-state-quarterback-now-you%e2%80%99ve-got-a-project/