AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2008 > March > 20
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A tough road ahead for Terrelle Pryor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Washington, D.C.-I’m up here today getting ready to cover the Cinderella Georgia Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament. All you Dawg people out there should know that your team is getting a lot of love from the national media. It is well deserved.
I told a friend of mine yesterday that what we saw over the weekend with Georgia is the best part of what I do for a living. Amid all the deadlines, travel, and aggravations that come with any job, every now and then you get to see something really special. And what the Georgia basketball team did was something I’ll always remember.
One of the disturbing parts of the job, at least from my perspective, has become the excesses of the recruiting process. Which brings us to Terrelle Pryor.
The quarterback from Jeannette, Pa., signed with Ohio State yesterday and the hoopla over this recruitment has made “American Idol” look like a church social. Pryor had a press conference in February to announce that he had NOT made a decision. And while the decision was pending there was media everywhere. He got into a scuffle during one of his basketball games and it was a national story.
And it is not going to get any better now that Pryor has made a decision.
I talked to someone very close to the Ohio State football program yesterday and he was very concerned about the road ahead for young Mr. Pryor. The adjustment to college is not going to be an easy one after you’ve been told for so long that you are the greatest player in the history of mankind.
The hope, this Ohio State person told me, is that the school can help Pryor adjust and handle his surroundings the way basketball star Greg Oden did. I got some chances to talk to Oden during his one season at Ohio State. He was a good kid who was able to handle the hype. But he also knew that he would have to handle it for only one year and he would be off to the NBA.
The problem that is ahead for Pryor is that there will come a time when the fantasy world in which he has lived for so long will collide with the real world of big time college football. The players who are already in the Ohio State camp, who have played in two straight BCS championship games, are not going to throw a party upon his arrival. They are going to test him. They are going to test him a lot. The ability to hold a press conference does not give you the ability to make the right read and make the right throw on a third and six against Michigan.
And when the 2008 season starts and Terrelle Pryor is not the starting quarterback, how does he handle that? What if Pryor can’t make the adjustment and coach Jim Tressel decides to redshirt him? How does he handle that?
Bottom line: The adults in this process are doing a disservice to Pryor and very talented kids like him. I don’t know his family situation but a parent should never allow their 18-year-old child to have a press conference. I don’t know who the principal is at Jeannette High School. But that press conference should never take place on school property. I understand the head football coach was not crazy about any of this. He’s got to be forceful as well.
And the media. Don’t get me started on that. Our excesses are off the charts.
Bottom line: I hope young Mr. Pryor has a wonderful college football career, gets his degree and becomes a productive citizen. I hope he makes millions of dollars in the NFL. I hope every good thing comes his way.
But today I have a very bad feeling about Terrelle Pryor and his future. I sure hope I’m wrong.
Am I wrong? Is there something about this process that troubles you? Do you see a happy ending to this story?
Please let me know.
Services »
