The scoreboard at Ohio Stadium read third down, the Buckeyes needing one yard. Terrelle Pryor took the snap, then deviated from the designed play. Instead of carrying his momentum forward for those final few feet, he sprinted to the right, where a potential opening could have netted a more substantial gain.
Pryor was headed past the first down marker, only without the football. The pigskin fled from the freshman’s hands and was recovered by Penn State in a critical moment late in Ohio State’s 13-6 loss at The Shoe.
The costly miscue is
firmly implanted in the young Ohio State quarterback’s memory.
“We watch the Penn State game,” he said. “The fumble comes up, and I just look at myself and put my head down.”
In 1978, freshman Art Schlichter started under center for the Buckeyes, as he would for all four of his collegiate seasons. Not until Pryor’s arrival last year did another rookie quarterback see the field following the coin toss.
With constant pressure forcing top tier football programs such as OSU to “win now,” coaches Earle Bruce, John Cooper and Jim Tressel have favored veteran gunslingers in which to entrust their offenses.
Pryor assumed the reigns from sixth-year senior Todd Boeckman amid a 35-3 downfall at USC and didn’t look back.
“When you come in as a starting quarterback and fight your way in in the third game, you have to grow up,” he said. “You’re leading grown men now, 23, 24 year olds. You’re in the huddle alone with ten other players, and they’re listening to every word you say. It’s amazing, but you have to be older and be more of an adult, and I think I had to grow up.”
Pyror suffered through the struggles that anyone would expect a freshman to endure on the grand stage. While the Buckeyes coasted to an 8-2 record under his authority, he received criticism for his turnovers, decision-making and arm strength.
But for all of the bumps in the road the team drove through last year, Pryor feels the Buckeyes will be better off for it now and in the future. The experience he gained gives him an edge that most sophomore quarterbacks can’t match.
“There are a lot of things that come at you, that I hadn’t learned last year,” he said. “If I would have known these things now, it would’ve been so much easier. Once you know what the defense is doing and what they’re bringing to you, how they’re coming at you, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
Now that he’s familiar with his role, Pryor has blossomed into a leader among his new supporting cast. With fresh faces at running back, receiver and tight end, the tested quarterback serves as a guide and a leader, roles that very few sophomores in college football- and especially at Ohio State- have taken on.
“I want to take 
that responsibility and lead the team,” the eager quarterback said. “There are some seniors now that will take it, but you could tell they kind of gave it to me. I think the most important thing is for the quarterback to be the leader. On the offensive side, that’s my offense, I’m going to run it, and that’s just how that’s going to be.”
As for his costly fumble against Penn State, Pryor claims he has learned from his rookie mistakes, but still forces himself to watch video of the error.
“I don’t want to watch it, but that’s what you have to do,” he said. “That’s how you grow up as an individual and as a man. Look at your mistakes and don’t make them again.”
Tressel might typically be opposed to placing pressure upon untested freshmen, but the soon-to-be sophomore certainly exhibits a sense of maturity after a beneficial rookie campaign.
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