COLUMBUS, Ohio — The most talked-about player on Ohio State has never played a down in scarlet and gray and won’t start in the season opener on Saturday against Youngstown State.
Terrelle Pryor, acclaimed as the top quarterback recruit in the country last winter, is listed as No. 3 on the Buckeyes’ depth chart behind starter Todd Boeckman and backup Joe Bauserman.
Coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday that he was hoping all three would get to play in the opening half against Youngstown State, a Championship Subdivision opponent the Buckeyes beat 38-6 a year ago.
“He’s nervous because he’s the kind of guy that wants everyone to be pleased with his performance, starting with himself. He’s a perfectionist,” Tressel said of the 6-foot-6, 235-pounder out of Jeannette, Pa. “But I think when it comes down to the concepts that our people have asked him to understand, the true Xs and Os that people have asked him to understand, I think he’s done an excellent job.”
Make no mistake about it, Boeckman is the starting quarterback although you’d never guess that based on the hoopla surrounding Pryor. When Ohio State had an open-to-the-public practice at Ohio Stadium last week, the buzz in the crowd was about Pryor and not 1,600-yard rusher Chris Wells, Butkus Award-winning linebacker James Laurinaitis or Boeckman, who led the Buckeyes to the national championship game last season.
Since he won’t attend his first college class for almost another month, Pryor was not made available to reporters this week to discuss his role on this year’s team. But clearly others have some mighty high expectations — and not a year or two from now.
Check out the video Web site Youtube.com and there are dozens of listings for Pryor highlights and interviews. His Wikipedia page is longer than that of many heads of state.
No wonder an 18-year-old kid could get a big head. So Ohio State’s players have tried to knock him down a peg.
Asked for his impressions, cornerback and team captain Malcolm Jenkins said Pryor is “a tremendous athlete. Someone who’s willing to learn. He’s humble … now.”
Jenkins said the upperclassmen have gone to great lengths to make sure Pryor’s ego didn’t run away from him.
“We had to show him a little bit that this is a different level and everybody starts from the bottom,” he said.
Notes
CINCINNATI: The NCAA said it’s still considering quarterback Ben Mauk’s latest appeal for more playing time, contrary to what it told his lawyer a day earlier. Lawyer Kevin Murphy received a phone call Monday night from an NCAA representative, informing him that the staff had denied Mauk’s request for another season of eligibility. Murphy was told that Mauk could talk to the NCAA’s reinstatement committee by phone on Thursday, pleading his case for the final time. On Tuesday, Murphy said he got another phone call from the same NCAA representative telling him the staff was still considering the matter and hadn’t ruled, contrary to what he had been told.
“That person called me back and apologized profusely,” Murphy said. “They said the call last night was a mistake, that they had not ruled. The staff had decided to sleep on it. The apology was sincere.”
COLORADO: Colorado tight end Riar Greer was sentenced to two years’ probation and 50 hours of community service after pleading guilty in an off-campus brawl. Boulder County District Judge Maria Berkenkotter sentenced Greer on Monday. The 21-year-old Greer avoided a jail term of up to two years. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor third-degree assault stemming from a fight on March 14.
PENN STATE: Daryll Clark will start at quarterback for Penn State when the 22nd-ranked Nittany Lions open the season against Coastal Carolina on Saturday. Coach Joe Paterno said Clark’s experience and solid preseason gave him the edge over Pat Devlin. Clark, Devlin and third-stringer Paul Cianciolo practiced well the last three weeks, he said.
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