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Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Tressel: Pryor’s form just fine; Herron won’t play against Purdue
The college football world may have been skeptical about whether Terrelle Pryor was more hype than substance, but he proved that all the recruiting buzz about him was valid when he orchestrated a game-winning touchdown drive against Wisconsin on Saturday.
Pryor led the Buckeyes on an 80-yard march for the winning score. He had two key completions to Brian Hartline, who lucked out when his fumble after a 27-yard gain to the Wisconsin 35-yard line was recovered by teammate Brian Robiskie, who just happened to be in the area.
The Buckeyes then ran off six plays, five of them runs by either Beanie Wells or Pryor. The only pass in that stretch was a perfect toss to Ray Small in the end zone, and the former Cleveland Glenville star dropped the pass (it wouldn’t have counted anyway since he had stepped out of bounds earlier on his own).
Pryor’s passing skills have been better than advertised. Although he doesn’t have a text-book throwing motion, he has plenty of arm strength and accuracy, and OSU coach Jim Tressel doesn’t intend to fiddle with Pryor’s form.
“I don’t know if we fuss with anybody’s motion,” Tressel said on the Big Ten teleconference Tuesday. “We talk about results and talk about when the ball needs to get let go and the type of velocity it needs. But, no, we don’t monkey with technique — unless there’s something glaring keeps them from being able to be successful. But Terrelle doesn’t have that situation.”
It’s hard to say Pryor has exceeded expectations with the amount of acclaim he received, but he’s certainly delivering faster than many figured he would.
“I think he’s done a lot of things very well,” Tressel said. “Ohio State is a tough place to play quarterback whether you’re a freshman or fifth-year senior, and I think he’s handled that.
“Sometimes coming off the recruiting hype, guys have a hard to living up to what everyone said they might be like. He’s handled that well. He plays the game extremely hard. He’s very hard on himself. He has the ability to throw and run and lead and (do) a lot of those things you’d love in your quarterback. He’s going to be better by the day.”
INJURY REPORT: Tressel announced on the teleconference that backup running back Boom Herron and Dane Sanzenbacher, the team’s third receiver, will both miss the Purdue game this week because of concussions suffered again the Wisconsin.
