Um, a fabrication in the Terrelle Pryor Legend, Or, he was a Silent Commit.

Submitted by jg2112 on

I was reading this article today from Rittenberg:

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/3395/tressel-accepts-pryors-ri…

And this passage caught my eye:

Tressel recalled how Pryor sent him a text message Monday night saying the team needed to provide a boost for junior wide receiver Taurian Washington, who dropped two passes against Navy. Pryor also sent Tressel a text after Ohio State's loss to LSU in the BCS title game, which read, "Don't worry about it, Coach. We're going to get it done in the future."

My radar went up. Obviously we don't know when Pryor sent that text message, although the way the passage is written would indicate it was sent the night or the day after the national title game in 2008. Which was around January 7.

All fine and good, except:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/player-Terrelle-Pr…

Pryor didn't commit until March and took a visit to Michigan on 1/18.

I guess Michigan was either wasting its time, or that text message story is a little lie-tastic.

baorao

September 9th, 2009 at 11:26 AM ^

had been around since at least the Army All-American game (Jan 1-5?), as he showed up to that game with a Buckeye sweatshirt or something.

we were definitely wasting our time.

FabFiver5

September 9th, 2009 at 11:46 AM ^

Seems to me like the senator had him in his pocket the whole time and was telling him to lead us on and waste a bunch of energy when he knew he wasn't coming here. Slimy.

ThWard

September 9th, 2009 at 11:50 AM ^

Nothing to see here. Even when uncommitted, kids do forge genuine bonds with coaches that are recruiting them. If you read "Meat Market" (not that good), you'll remember that Joe McKnight often texted back and forth with one of Ole Miss' assistant coaches that he had gotten close to, including stuff like along those lines (i.e., "things will be different when I'm there!" sort of stuff).

bronxblue

September 9th, 2009 at 1:00 PM ^

I agree - the book was at least a decent view of the crazy world of recruiting. The part I loved most about it was Ole Miss's near-constant issues with guys qualifying under the clearinghouse standards. Like 1/4 of the book was based on trying to land some kid who just couldn't cut it academically (I forget his name, but I know he played at a JC the last two years and is still not qualified).

NEPrep

September 9th, 2009 at 12:18 PM ^

on this situation was that he was going to Ohio State all along, unless he was convinced otherwise. It's sort of akin to a prospect saying, "I'm still committed, but I'm taking visits." We were way behind OSU when RichRod got here, and maybe with a spectacular sales pitch and some quick recruit bonding he would have come. Was it a waste of our time? Yes and no. Yes in an absolute sense that it was very very unlikely that he would come. But, at the same time, what was the alternative? There were no other quarterbacks to be recruiting, so what the hell? Give it a shot. You have to have something better to do for something to be a waste of time.

VAWolverine

September 9th, 2009 at 12:25 PM ^

knew he was going to be a Buckeye long before he verbally committed. He took more time because his father wanted him to go to PSU and he was toying with M and Oregon. He also enjoyed all the limelight that the media was shining down on him while he was trying to provoke fights in his state basketball tourney after games.

His sugar daddy (the glass plant guy) from his hometown is well connected in Columbus where he does business. Rosenberg's more evil media twin at a paper in Ohio should be all over this recruitment process since it has smelled from day one.

Bluerock

September 9th, 2009 at 12:43 PM ^

I think Pryor was never coming,just wanted the attention.
I'm going to be looking at USC LBs during the game to see if they have DOG painted in their eye black.That would be classic.

BlueGoM

September 9th, 2009 at 1:09 PM ^

The Pryor issue has been dealt with a number of times, at least by the guys on WTKA (for those not in the Ann Arbor area, it's the local AM sports talk radio station). I've heard at least a few times that Pryor had the Bucknuts as his first choice from day 1, and it never changed. Michigan became a possibility only for a brief time, but OSU was never, not his #1 choice.

Rich Rod tried his best as we obviously needed a QB who could run the spread last season, but apparently Pryor is immune to snake oil and wizard hats.

evilempire

September 9th, 2009 at 1:12 PM ^

suggests there was def monkey business going on in the recruitment of TP. Especially if you take it all together. But, it is now water under the bridge. But, despte Tressels support for RR (I think he was covering his own butt), that program is dirty. I mean for crying out loud, the ex-buckeye Robert Smith, who is on espn, said a few years back "yes the players at osu are getting paid...but the coaches dont know about it" (yeah, right bob)

biakabutuka ex…

September 9th, 2009 at 1:27 PM ^

I've got this great allegory from the Lion King that applies to this story! You've probably never heard it, either.

Kidding aside, I'm really excited about our QBs and have already gotten more attached to them than I ever did Pryor. He just...seems like a Buckeye.

Tater

September 9th, 2009 at 2:20 PM ^

I still think Pryor sandbagged under Tressel's instructions to make it more difficult for PSU and UM to recruit a QB. In BJ Daniels, who ended up at USF, it probably cost UM a kid who could have done better last year. Daniels probably would have "lost his seat" to Forcier this year, but looked like he could have done better than either Threet or Sheridan last year.

mjv

September 9th, 2009 at 2:49 PM ^

Why is there such speculation about nefarious dealings between Pryor and Tressel with regards to his recruitment? The kid was making the most important decision of his life and a coach that had been recruiting him to WVU now moves to Michigan and he wants to spend more time making his decision does not equal "OMG TRE$$EL AND PRYOR ARE $LIMY CHEATER$!!!!111!!"

Get over it, Pryor chose OSU. Get out of the past and enjoy the play of the team.