Texas fans first heard the name Terrelle Pryor in 2007 when the nation's top quarterback prospect -- often compared favorably to Vince Young -- considered the Longhorns for his college destination. At 6-6, 235, he certainly looks like VY, but as the super prospect wraps up his freshman season at Ohio State, the differences between the two players are more pronounced than one might expect.
JUST THE NUMBERS
We begin with a look at Pryor's season statistics as a true freshman:
And now the game logs:
A few observations on the straight numbers:
- Though the athleticism and body size drew comparisons to Vince Young, for Texas fans who want to know what to expect from Ohio State's quarterback, the better comparison might be... Colt McCoy? Terrelle Pryor's rushing stats on the year: 124 rushes, 553 yards, 4.5 ypa. Colt McCoy's rushing stats on the year: 128 rushes, 576 yards, 4.5 ypa.
- Though McCoy was significantly more productive as a passer, Pryor is a far more polished passer than was Vince Young at this stage in his development. His efficiency numbers are very solid for an 18 year old kid. Though the Buckeyes prefer to keep his attempts down and control the game via the rush, his completion percentage and yards per attempt are both quite solid.
- One question I have: What should we make of the Big 10 after this bowl season? Penn State's supposedly strong defense got pistol whipped by a good-not-great USC offense. Minnesota, Northwestern, Michigan State, and Wisconsin were all bowl losers.
Next: Video and scouting on Pryor.
wait am i reading that right, he wasn’t sacked once all season? as a rush first, pass second qb? never?
nm, looking up his stats on espn he has 19 sacks on the season… not sure why they’re not updated here.
he look to be a very solid freshman, but i don’t know how he’ll fair against texas’ defense, which is likely to be near the best he’s seen all season (if you want to count psu’s defense as good in an impotent conference).
Displaced Longhorn - January 1, 2009
The Big Ten . .
blows. And it’s not just this year. They are 6-15 in their last 21 bowl games. At what point does this become a national consensus as opposed to speculation?
DoubleB - January 1, 2009
A lot of the big10 is weak quarterbacking
Clark might have been the best qb in the conference this year. The second best might have been Pryor. Just looking at his production, that gives a pretty solid idea of how bad quarterbacks were in the Midwest this year. This also tells you how Penn State’s defense was so good. They faced hardly any good passing teams. USC was the first team with a competent passing game, they carved up the PSU weak secondary.
As far as their bowl games, they’ve won every game they were favored in. They were just matched up with teams that are far more talented. If OSU hadn’t made the BCS, perhaps they win some of these other games. OSU would have faced UGa and Michigan State would have faced Florida State. I would think those would been much more evenly matched games. Wisconsin and Minnesota didn’t deserve a bowl. Northwestern may have actually helped the image of the Big10 even in losing to Mizzou. They actually didn’t look that bad, they just couldn’t keep up in the end.
formerlyanonymous - January 1, 2009
Isn't that the point?
Georgia and Michigan State were clearly the 3rd best teams in their conferences. Same w/Penn State and USC. Kansas was the 6th or 7th best team in the Big XII and Minnesota finished in a tie for 6th in the Big Ten. They just don’t match up across the board with most other conferences. By definition, that means they aren’t very good.
Yes, they’ve won every game they were favored in (all 1 of them). Which means the bettors think they aren’t very good. And yet they’re 2-4 against the spread this year, so they haven’t even lived up to those low expectations. They’ve gotten a TD plus in 5 bowl games which is quite amazing when you think about it and are only 1-3 thus far.
The SEC was an underdog in 4 of its 7 games and already won 2 of those (LSU and Vandy).
Agreed about Northwestern by the way. I thought they played well.
DoubleB - January 1, 2009
I think simply using bowl games
Is often shortsighted, at least when it comes to direct conference comparison. It’s honestly a bit stupid trying to say “Team A beat Team B, so that mean’s Team A’s conference is better than Team B’s conference.” It’s not like both conferences had a royal rumble featuring all their teams against each other. However, while you can’t claim conference superiority directly over another (which is why the current Pac-10 argument is flawed; just because they have a good bowl record this year doesn’t mean they’re all of a sudden on par with the SEC or Big 12), you can perhaps pinpoint a conference problem if the conference as a whole can’t beat anyone from any conference. That seems to be the Big 10 right now.
I think Penn State was legitimately good, but their weakness against the pass was exposed. Just goes to show that if Ohio State could throw the ball, they might have won that game. Which brings us back to Pryor.
I think Pryor is going to turn into a star, like everyone else does, and while I agree he’s a much more polished passer than VY at this stage, I don’t think he has the legs of Vince. Not now, not ever. He doesn’t have that “it” factor when he runs, that strange elusiveness that makes you scratch your head. Don’t get me wrong; he’s definitely a great running threat, but he’s not Vince in that respect.
Still, the best way to come into this game is to contain the guy and force him to beat you from the pocket with pressure in his face. I’d rather not see him freelancing around.
TheElusiveShadow - January 2, 2009
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