Read the debate intro and Sports Geek’s argument that the struggles of Terrelle Pryor are due to his underperformance.
Have you ever tried running with a left shoe on your right foot? Sure, you can still accomplish the basic goal of getting from here to there, and the shoe will protect your foot from sharp steps along the road. The problem, though, is that it prevents you from maximizing your true potential. Ideally, you would like to find a shoe that fits properly, which enables you to truly perform at the highest possible levels.
When you do find that shoe that fits comfortably magic starts to happen. The right fit brings comfort, and with comfort comes reliability and consistency of performance. Instead of pain, tension, and stress you are able to move more naturally, and focus on improving the finer points of performance.
Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor must know exactly how that feels.
After being very heavily recruited out of high school, Pryor came into Ohio State amidst very high expectations. At 6 feet 6 inches, weighing 227 pounds, Pryor was compared to Vince Young. Like Young, Pryor has the raw athletic ability of a “dual-threat” quarterback who can run for 20 yards just as easily as he could can throw for it.
For a player who has been compared to one of the most exciting and successful college quarterbacks of this decade, Pryor’s career has not started out so great for Pryor at Ohio State. Pryor, who has shown glimpses of the superstar that he can be, has been responsible for several very costly errors, most of which appeared to be the result of poor decision making. And if you play football in Ohio, errors are very quickly followed by criticism.
Critics seem to forget that Vince Young was not always the quarterback pictured in a cloud of confetti after having just upset the favored Southern Cal Trojans in the BCS National Championship. In fact, during Young’s first season at the helm for the Texas Longhorns he threw almost as many interceptions (11) as he did touchdowns (12), and only accounted for 1,848 passing yards. It took time for Young, who was 21-years-old when he took his first snaps as a starter in Texas, to develop with his team into a quarterback capable of national success.
Now compare Young to Pryor, who was thrust into the limelight at age 18 and asked to lead a national contender into the BCS before he had even finished his first semester of college! Yes, Pryor made mistakes, but many of those mistakes were the result of poor strategy on the field.
What makes Pryor most dangerous is his running ability. Like Young, or former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, Pryor has an amazing ability to extend plays because he is elusive and possesses amazing speed (despite his larger frame). The difference for Pryor is that he does not have the same supporting cast around him as Young and Smith had. Consider Young’s offensive teammates. Names like Selvin Young, Bo Scaife, Cedric Benson, and Limas Sweed come to mind. For Smith, names like Chris “Beanie” Wells, Teddy Ginn Jr., and Anthony Gonzalez come to mind. Both rosters were LOADED with NFL caliber talent, and both rosters required opposing defenses to split their focus, freeing up Young and Smith respectively to take advantage of their natural play-making abilities.
Who does Terrelle Pryor have? Beanie Wells was injured for some of the 2008 season with Pryor, so his play cannot be weighted very heavily. Instead, Pryor has a supporting cast of Daniel Herron, Dane Sanzenbacher, Brandon Saine, and Brian Hartline – all of whom are good players, but not quite the same caliber of his predecessor’s supporting cast. Opposing defenses are now able to use one of Pryor’s biggest strengths against him. The primary reason that Pryor was so highly recruited out of high school was because of his improvisational style and ability to make plays under pressure. That style can be very easy when the opponent is a bunch of 15 and 16 year-olds from Anywhere-Pennsylvania High. When an 18-year-old boy is being pressured by the defenses of USC, Penn State, or Texas… improvisation is a little more difficult to pull off.
Pryor’s mistakes have all come at times where he has tried to improvise or extend a play – every single one of them. The problem is that he cannot be expected to do it all by himself. I am not criticizing the rest of the Buckeye’s, but the offense around Pryor is not designed to support a quarterback with his unique talents. It is that simple. Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel coaches in a style that prizes special teams and field position play. Tressel’s coaching style would have him classified as a game manager, taking few chances and relying heavily on solid defense and consistent play to dominate the game by the clock (something the Buckeyes have not been able to do lately). What Pryor needs is an explosive running back that draws all of the attention up front, combined with speedy wide receivers to help him stretch the field. Most importantly, he needs the time to let plays develop. If his wide receivers are unable to get open downfield, it does not matter how long he extends the play, success will never come.
There has to be allowance for a learning curve, not only for Terrelle Pryor but for the whole Ohio State Buckeyes program. The aforementioned Troy Smith (who won the Heisman Trophy his senior year) was actually BENCHED in 2004 because he was unable to succeed under the Buckeye’s game plan. Once the team (and the coach) was able to develop an offense that complemented Smith’s style the coaches could finally maximize Smith’s talents, and saw wild success. If Pryor is going to have that same success then Tressel and the Buckeyes are going to have to figure out a way to truly maximize his talents.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Sports Debates: The #OhioState #Buckeyes are NOT using #Pryor to his full potential… http://xrl.us/bfzmuf (Link to thesportsdebates.com)…