Recruit stays home so as not to offend
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- If Terrelle Pryor, the nation's No. 1 prospect for the 2008 season, has priorities in the recruiting rodeo, he's not saying.
In fact, the quarterback from Jeannette, Pa., said he didn't plan to be in Beaver Stadium last night for the Ohio State-Penn State game just to keep such scuttlebutt on the back burner.
"They're (two of) my top teams; I can't do that," Terrelle Pryor said the other night after Jeannette wrapped up a 9-0 regular season. "If I go there, and Ohio State, they're there -- that's disrespectful, sort of. I like both schools and I won't do that."
He said he still plans to make an official visit to Ohio State this weekend, though, when Ohio State plays host to Wisconsin.
"Michael Brewster (an Ohio State lineman commitment from Orlando, Fla.) and all of the other recruits are going down there, and they asked me if I would go down there and I said sure," Terrelle Pryor said. "It's a big game for them, and I just want to go down there and show support."
At 6 feet 6, 220 pounds and blessed with Vince Young-like ability, Terrelle Pryor has been the big blip on the recruiting radar for more than a year. He said earlier this fall he had narrowed his list of candidates to Ohio State, Penn State, West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas, though not necessarily in that order.
He has directed his team into the Pennsylvania playoffs, in which they lost the state championship game last year. Terrelle Pryor scored three rushing touchdowns and threw three TD passes in a 42-6 win Thursday over rival Greensburg Central Catholic, a game witnessed by OSU coaches Jim Tressel and Thad Matta.
That shows they're serious about letting him play both football and basketball, said Terrelle Pryor, also a standout forward.
But he said his priority is making it to the western Pennsylvania finals in a few weeks in Heinz Field in Pittsburgh before moving on to the title game in Hershey.
"With all the hard work we did, we expected to get here, and we did it," Terrelle Pryor said. "It feels good, but our goal is much higher."
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