The Lantern

Issue date: 7/17/08 Section: Sports

Since arriving on campus June 16, things have been quiet on the Terrelle Pryor front.

This is a good thing.

This means he is getting down to business and putting in a lot of time in the film and weight rooms.

Remind you of anybody?

How about 2006 Heisman Trophy Winner, Troy Smith.

Before that season, Smith stayed out of the spotlight and kept himself busy studying film and becoming more knowledgeable of his competition, which ultimately helped propel Ohio State to the National Championship game that year against Florida.

Pryor is following Troy's lead as a student of the game, and he hasn't even stepped foot on the field as a college player.
Since becoming the only player in the history of Pennsylvania football to rush and pass for more than 4,000 yards in a career, the 6-foot-6-inch, 235-pound quarterback has kept his nose clean by attending classes and working hard to make sure that he is as ready as he can be for this upcoming season.

Even though the coaches are not allowed any interaction with the kids during the summer, coach Jim Tressel says he's heard good things about Pryor's progression.

"I've heard that he loves to train and he loves to go in and watch film," Tressel said.

Even when Pryor can't get a hold of starter Todd Boeckman, he goes out of his way to make sure he can get as many bits of information as he can to help him get an edge on the competition.

"There was one day he texted me and asked for (Joe) Bauserman's phone number so he could get Joe to go over and watch some film with him and pick his brain," Tressel said of Pryor.

In regards to Schoenhoft and Henton transferring, Tressel says that bringing in a highly-touted recruit, like Pryor, is fairly normal for players to want to go elsewhere, especially for the specialist positions like quarterback.

Since Ohio State started keeping track of players leaving for other schools, OSU has had 61 transfers - nine of whom were quarterbacks, according to bucknuts.com.

"It's a tough position being a quarterback and kicker where there's usually only one lining up so it's not unusual," Tressel said.

"We played against Austin Moherman," Tressel said referring to his time at Youngstown State when they played against Southwest Missouri State in 2000. "He was on the 5-yard-line getting ready to beat us, but he didn't see that blitz coming."
So being a little thin at the quarterback position should give Pryor the edge on vying for some consistent playing time.

What can we expect to see out of Pryor this season?

"In preseason we'll give him the opportunity to show how he can internalize our system and build on his strengths, and perhaps with his ability and work ethic he can make a difference in 2008," Tressel said on an ESPN Internet chat Tuesday.

Pryor's doing everything he's supposed to be doing so far, so get excited Ohio State, cause the 2008 season is just weeks away.



Brad Hehmeyer can be reached at hehmeyer.5@osu.edu.

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