The threat of Troy Smith running on a given play was enough for opposing coaches to have to game plan against it. It does not matter how many times it actually happened. Troy ran less and less as he progressed towards his Heisman Trophy, but it's not like his running didn't get him to that point. Hell yes it got him to where he was. But it was NOT the actual running that did the trick. It was the possibility.
In Voyd Carr's gameplan, he knew that the Buckeyes were not going to run Troy Smith left, Troy Smith right, Pitt on 3rd down, then punt. The ability to spread the defense out was obtained within his sophomore and junior seasons. The yards that Troy was capable of piling up as a run-first option was a serious threat to opposing defenses, and I would venture to guess that stopping that QB-run threat was deeply involved in opposing game plans. Then something happened. Smith came out throwing. He wasn't running like he had before, and you can only imagine the look on other coaches' faces when they realized that they were going to get burnt by Troy, whether it was via the pass or the run. They already knew he could run. He proved that he was also a passer. A Quarterback. The leader of the team, that had 10 teammates on the field every play listening to his every word.
The parallels become huge when you factor in the rawness of Terrelle plus the possibilities that his future teammates will offer. Forget the guys we might end up with, the 11 players coming into
OSU that are already in the bag are a very good start and a foundation to what he could eventually accomplish inside the 'Shoe. It's certainly not fair to Terrelle to throw around any Troy Smith or Vince Young comparisons, as Terrelle will eventually certainly carve out his own "the next Terrelle Pryor" comparisons.
His only job right now is finding the coaching staff and teammates that are going to allow him to achieve everything that he knows is within his reach.