The new meme across college football analysts is the disappointing performances by Terrelle Pryor. Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated even went as far to ask if he chose the wrong school.There’s been blame put on Terrelle, Tressel, and I’m sure someone will find a way to blame Rich Rodriguez for Pryor’s woes.

It’s only two weeks into his sophomore campaign, and there has already been talk of Pryor being a bust. This past Saturday, Pryor and his Ohio State team lost in a close game to a USC team that’s ranked number three in the nation. Pryor has made poor decisions on the field, and even recently one off the field, HOWEVA, there are a few questions that need to be answered when addressing Terrelle Pryor. The first question that came to mind was if Terrelle Pryor was a victim of the “OMG star rankings,” and the new media hype of scouting services.

Pryor was ranked as the number one player in the country in 2008, and a five star recruit by Rivals.com. The attention he got throughout the recruiting process seemed like he was getting drafted right out of high school. He was dubbed the savior, the next coming of Vince Young, and even added to the media attention by holding multiple press conferences to announce that he would be announcing a decision, and then eventually announce the decision. The question is; was the hype warranted? Was Terrelle Pryor that much ahead of the rest of the field, and as college ready as the professionals said he was? I took the stats compiled from Pryor’s junior  year of high school, and compared them to Devin Gardner,  2010 QB prospect committed to Michigan.  For argument’s sake, I’ll leave their names out of their stats. Gardner hasn’t yet completed his senior year, and Pryor was dubbed the number one player in the nation after his junior year, anyway.

Devin Gardner owns the first set of stats, and the second group belongs to Terrelle Pryor. As you can see, Pryor had approximately 200 more rushing yards, and 7 more rushing TD’s. Gardner, however, has a better passing percentage, more yards, and 11 more touchdown passes than Pryor. The two are also close in height, with Pryor having an inch or two on Gardner, while Terrelle is around 40 pounds heavier than Devin.

Devin Gardner is ranked as a 4 star prospect, and the 53^rd best prospect in the country. So, it would seem by comparing stats and stature that 40 pounds is what separates Gardner from the 5^th star, and the paparazzi following.

I’m not defending Pryor, or lobbying for Gardner. I’m merely comparing the two, and questioning the reason for the hype surrounding Terrelle Pryor.

It’s been said before that the recruiting services base a lot of their opinion on NFL potential. While the NFL has adopted the wildcat and more athletic quarterbacks, the biggest emphasis is still on passing ability. Again, based off of these stats, Pryor is not light years ahead of his peers.

It seems like Pryor has fell victim (I hate to call him a victim of anything) of the new media hype machine. They created the monster, and after building his castle, seem to be deconstructing it one poor decision at a time.

(The next stat that needs to be analyzed is how Pryor compares to past number 1 rated quarterbacks in their freshman and sophomore seasons. I’ll have another post on this later.)