The Buckeye Battle Cry will be counting down the Top 25 players of the past decade all spring/summer. Every Monday through May and June, Jim will be announcing a new player. Starting in July, we will be announcing new additions on Monday and Thursday. Our #1 player will be presented on Monday, August 30th. Three days later, the 2010 season officially begins.
Terrelle Pryor (2008-2009)
Terrelle Pryor hasn’t concluded his career at Ohio State yet, and the expectations for him are unbelievably high for the coming season. If things go as planned, he can cement himself much, much higher on any all-time greatest list.
As it is, his on the field exploits in 2008 and 2009 alone are enough to get him on this list, and if the criteria for selection were based purely on athletic ability, he would be ranked significantly higher.
Pryor has logged playing time in every game since the start of the 2008 season, including 23 starts. He has a record of 19-4 in those starts.
He was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2008, and has been named Big Ten honorable mention in 2008 and 2009.
Pryor already has the 10th most passing yards in Ohio State history with 3,405. In 2009, he had the 13th most passing yards (2,094) and the 8th most passing attempts (295) and completions (167) in a season at Ohio State.
Pryor saved his best for last in 2009 and his 266 passing yards against Oregon were the most of his career, and good for the 50th best passing game ever at Ohio State.
Pryor was named the Rose Bowl MVP for his exploits against Oregon, that alone is enough to at least earn a mention in this countdown.
On top of all of that, Pryor also led the Buckeyes in rushing in 2009 with 779 yards, and he has 3 career 100 yard rushing games, the second most for a quarterback at Ohio State behind Cornelius Greene who has 4.
Pryor has been able to accomplish some pretty amazing things so far in his young career, and we can only hope that he continues to achieve greatness. The best may be yet to come, but for 2008 and 2009 alone, Pryor has earned a spot at #24 on our countdown.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
