It’s been a rough year for Terrelle Pryor.? At the beginning of this season he likely anticipated NFL scouts salivating over his 6’6 frame, and dual threat abilities as he collected a national championship ring while passing GO in Arizona.? Remove Terrelle Pryor from the previous sentence and that’s what Cam Newton has accomplished this season.
Unfortunately, Cam Newton has done all this while getting off scott-free with an alleged $180,000 payment request by his father to commit to Mississippi State. ? Pryor on the other hand has seen his NFL prospects wither and will now have just a half a season in 2011 to raise his stock as a senior after selling his “gold pants” which are given to Buckeyes players if they beat Michigan for several hundred dollars as well as a 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award. ?Four other teammates were suspended for bartering rings and other memoribilia for tattoo discounts and cash.
So on Thursday, Tressel had the Buckeye 5 assemble and pledge to return next season or else don’t play in the Sugar Bowl.? I seriously doubt this was a binding agreement.
I can only imagine Jim Tressel having those five juniors reach into a CRACKER JACK BOX, pull out some rings, drawing some blood and then pledging to return for their senior seasons or else be haunted by the ghosts of Columbus for eternity.? It’s bad enough, they’ve got to deal with the draconian double standards and NCAA laws but to think they had to make an oath to return for their senior season or leave immediately is ridiculous. I’m shocked the outrage has been silent towards Jim Tressel.
If these five juniors, especially Pryor and Herron wanted to truly stick it to Tressel, Ohio State and the system, they’d make the pledge, play in the game and then declare for the draft in the post-game.? Usually when you hear about an underclassmen Draft prospect meeting with his coach, the orthodox line is to tell a player to make the best decision for him and his family.
Tresell basically corned his players and tried to shower them with guilt if they chose to go pro.? I actually had a lot of respect for the SweaterVest before today.? Earlier this month, there were rumors, Tressel, himself would jump to the NFL.? While it’s unlikely, he’ll make the leap this off-season, it’s because he’s got a plum job and a virtual lifetime contract with Ohio State.Pryor has four years to make an impression.
At his first Sugar Bowl news conference, Tressell addressing the pact between himself and the Buckeye 5 said, “We told them they would have to make the decision on the NFL prior to leaving for the bowl game, It wouldn’t be fair to not face the consequences down the road.”? More specifically, Tressell thought it wouldn’t be fair to the NCAA.
Tell that to John Calipari, Kelvin Sampson and Pete Carroll among a list of other coaches who have left amidst violations against their programs or themselves in general.
What would happen if prior to every bowl game, college football players demanded a pledge from their head coaches to return next season or else step down?? They’d be met with laughs. Try telling Jim Harbaugh, who has been linked to the head jobs at Michigan and with the 49ers to make a pledge to return to Palo Alto or sit in the stands during the Orange Bowl.
The perception of the NCAA as an amateur association is as mythical as the existence of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Tupac alive at 39 and college football’s national championship.
Once you move past the obvious lunacy of vie players losing half of their senior seasons for selling their own memorabilia and still having to pay back the money they received. Huh? This entire fiasco has produced some of the most laughable responses since gray haired Brett Favre figured out how to send picture messages on his conflabbin portable phone.
Somehow, the Buckeye 5 turned school presidents, Jim Tressel and ESPN college football talent into patients at an insane asylum.
First there was Kirk Herbstreit’s diatribe on the Colin Cowherd Show where he sniped at Terrelle Pryor. (If you remember Herbstreit also crossed into the professional ranks and drew the ire of Terrell Owens in the off-season. Just taking a shot in the dark but clearly someone named Terrelle hurt Kirk as a child. I’m not a psychiatrist but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night)
Herbstreit also designated Terrelle Pryor as the ringleader and then called it addition by subtraction for the Buckeyes in 2011.? According to Herbstreit, before Pryor arrived at Ohio State, Ohio State athletes didn’t have the NFL Draft in the back of their minds. Right?? Now that Pryor won’t be under center for the first half of the season, Jim Tressel can get back to the roots of Buckeye football; tradition and academics.
Seriously, you have to hear the interview.? At one point, Herbstreit, “The Psychiatrist” offers his expert diagnosis and tells Cowherd, that “in his mind, Terrelle Pryor thinks he’s a first round pick.” Cowherd responds by telling him he’s nuts.? And he was referring to Terrelle Pryor, not Herbstreit.
Listen, Im not Pryor’s biggest fan but at the very least he’s Joe Webb, who may be starting for the Minnesota Vikings next season.? Pryor thinking he’s a first round pick may be a little bit of hubris but it’s not proof of a detachment from reality.? Herbstreit also hinted at issues between Tressel and Pryor but when asked to elaborate retracted and said, “I-I-I’m not sure if they do or not but?” ?He literally does this on multiple occasions throughout the interview.God forbid, Herbstreit report false information. Right Les Miles?
Then, there is Mark May who has spent bowl season designing tin foil hats to prevent E.T.’s or CIA from reading his thoughts and deciding to finally go public with a convoluted conspiracy theory he’d been working on for hours, maybe days. According to May, the NCAA has sided with the Big Ten, Pac-10 and The Ohio State in a vast conspiracy against the SEC and non-AQ conferences.? Yes, the same SEC which has been the NCAA’s pride and joy for a decade plus! ?The conspiracy against non-AQ conferences isn’t exactly a well hidden conspiracy. ?It’s like saying West Virginia secretly loathes Rich Rodriguez.
Apparently, with May’s logic the two year sanctions towards the USC Trojans program was simply a smokescreen and boy, just wait five more years when the NCAA brings down the hammer on Cam Newton!
If anything, this harms Ohio State next season more than anything.? Because the five game suspension doesn’t begin until next season rather than during the Rose Bowl, Pryor and the Buckeye 5 will serve the final game of their suspension against defending co-Big Ten champion, Michigan State.
There’s no national championship on the line in the Sugar Bowl but there very well might be when the Spartans visit Buckeye Stadium in October. ?Terrelle Pryor will be watching from the sideline. Hopefully, he won’t stay long. ?He’ll have a game to prep for on Sunday. ?Unless it’s his bye week.Please take a minute to open and read ads on the site and help support maintaining. Each ad you open helps pay to keep the site up. Thanks for your support, and feel free to refer your friends and family to this site.
