Anyone not interested in where 18-year old football players are planning to attend college need read no further, but the destination of Jeannette, Pa. quarterback Terrelle Pryor has been a subject of interest, since he is rated as the nation's top high school player at any position, and last Wednesday, while the rest of the nation's best sent letters of intent to their colleges of choice, Terrelle Pryor decided not to decide.
Pryor has long been thought to be in the bag for Ohio State, and with good reason. He had established close friendships with several of the members of the Buckeye recruiting class of 2008, roomed with them at the Army All-America Game, and was said to be far enough along in his plans to have decided on his freshman year roommates. Fellow players in San Antonio for the Army game who were asked to speculate about Pryor's plans all said they thought he was already a Buckeye.
In the last few days before the Feb. 6 signing day, when most of the media start to pay attention to college recruiting, Pryor agreed to hold off announcing his commitment so he could appear on the ESPN signing day recruiting special. In the preceding days, his high school coach and others close to Pryor were quoted as saying they thought he would announce for Ohio State, something Ohio State program insiders had known for months, at least to the extent one can ever tell for sure what a 17-year old will do. Suffice to say he had given OSU coaches and future classmates every indication he wanted to be a Buckeye.
All of this is why there was great gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in Buckeye Nation Wednesday when his signing day announcement was that he would take some more time to decide, and visit a couple more schools before committing, specifically planning a trip to Penn State. News coverage portrayed a picture of an undecided young man whose commitment to his high school basketball season had limited his availability to make all the college visits he would have liked, because that was the script Pryor and family followed at the press conference. And the basketball situation and the busy schedule narrative is true as far as it goes. But the real story of the events leading to Pryor's signing day non-announcement is a little more complicated than that. And it should be somewhat comforting to Buckeye fans as they wait out the decision.
Pryor has visited Penn State unofficially several times, but the Nittany Lions had been viewed as an also ran in the Pryor stakes, even though the star was a home state product. As recently as a month ago, Penn State was not thought to even be a contender for Pryor as he considered Michigan and the Buckeyes, with Oregon getting his attention as well. Most schools were aware that the young man would probably stay relatively close to home to make it easier for his parents to attend his games. And many others didn't invest the time because the word was he was a done deal for the Bucks.
It's common knowledge in Jeannette that in that in the absence of a strong level of interest from Pryor, the Penn State coaching staff has instead been concentrating their recruiting efforts on his father, visiting him personally at home numerous times in the past several weeks. It appears that dad is now sold on the Nittany Lions as a college destination for his son, and this preference surfaced the day before signing day when Pryor met with his whole family to discuss his college choice.
According to sources close to the OSU program, at that informal meeting, Pryor informed his family that he was planning to attend Ohio State. His father is said to have promoted his preference for Penn State, saying that Terrelle had not given them a fair chance. Pryor was reportedly firm in stating his intention to be a Buckeye, and a heated discussion ensued. Perhaps in part because at 17 he needs his father's signature on his letter of intent, he relented and agreed to delay committing and take an official visit to Penn State, (and since he is extending the time, he may visit Oregon as well) out of respect for his father's wishes and for the home state school. Dad is said to have "no problem" with Ohio State and will go along with Terrelle's final decision.
Long story long, Pryor will probably still become an Ohio State Buckeye in two or three weeks, even as the media folks try to manufacture suspense for their own sake. For a litany of reasons too involved to get into here (Anthony Morelli's tortured four-year career there ought to be enough) Penn State makes no sense for the guy. He also knows that if he comes to Columbus in the Fall, his friends will be waiting for him. It doesn't hurt that in the OSU class of 2008 are three (yes, three) Parade All-American offensive linemen and a Parade All-American wide receiver, part of a recruiting class that is Tressel's best OSU class yet, Pryor or no Pryor. He also knows that Jim Tressel took a dual-threat quarterback who was almost a recruiting afterthought and turned him into the Heisman Trophy winner just two seasons ago. I think he knows what to do. In fact he has known it for quite some time.
Related:
A look at the 2008 OSU Football Recruiting Class - Bucknuts.com
Terrelle Pryor highlight video
Posted by dan at February 10, 2008 12:02 AM