QB Terrelle Pryor (official thread)

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by RB07OSU

Would it be a sin to say he may be the most talented recruit at the HS level in 10 years? 20?

A sin? No. Maybe a tad overboard? Yep.

[BuckeyeIII]

Originally Posted by LordJeffBuck

Well, at least Pryor plays in every game....

Yes, but to VOTERS, that might make a difference. You're not persuading me to vote for him, I would in a heart beat. I'm just saying that may be the factor behind it in the mind of the voters.

[wadc45]

Rivals.com Football Recruiting - Six finalists named for U.S. Army POY Award

SAN ANTONIO – The U.S. Army All-American Bowl Selection Committee has narrowed down their nominees to six finalists for the prestigious 2008 U.S. Army Player of the Year Award: Nigel Bradham (Wakulla High School, Crawford, Fla.); Arthur Brown (East High School, Wichita, Kan.); Dayne Crist (Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks, Calif.); Patrick Johnson (Blanche Ely High School, Pompano Beach, Fla.); Terrelle Pryor (Jeanette High School, Jeanette, Pa.); and Darrell Scott (St. Bonaventure High School, Ventura, Calif.). The U.S. Army Player of the Year will be crowned during the U.S. Army Awards Dinner on Friday, January 4, 2008, in San Antonio. The winner will be presented with the Ken Hall Trophy, modeled after Ken "Sugar Land Express" Hall, high school football's all-time leading rusher. The U.S. Army Player of the Year award is given to the nation's most outstanding senior in high school football.

Continued...

[RB07OSU]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

A sin? No. Maybe a tad overboard? Yep.

May be but just speaking in terms of how much someone has dominated on the HS level only, I think it's legit to consider. Nobody can stop him even when defenses key completely on him and he is at about the highest level of competition you can be at for the high school level. Add to the fact he plays at a position where you can make the biggest impact on a game and the fact he is a force on defense, and I think it's certainly possible. I mean there are certainly other players who have been up around Pryor's talent level but who else has dominated like TP? I'm young to recruiting yet so I'm not really trying to make a statement, rather just curious.

[BengalsAndBucks]

Originally Posted by RB07OSU

Nobody can stop him even when defenses key completely on him and he is at about the highest level of competition you can be at for the high school level.

I could be wrong here but I am pretty sure one of the biggest knocks on Pryor is that the high school competition he plays is subpar at best. Pennsylvania goes from Class AAAA to Class A, and Pryor plays at the AA level, so the competition is certainly not the greatest. I am not necessarily disagreeing with your assertation that he is the best, as I am very new to high school recruiting myself, but its not like he is doing this against Miami Northwestern. He is at a low level of competition even for PA standards.

[BuckeyeMike80]

Originally Posted by BengalsAndBucks

I could be wrong here but I am pretty sure one of the biggest knocks on Pryor is that the high school competition he plays is subpar at best. Pennsylvania goes from Class AAAA to Class A, and Pryor plays at the AA level, so the competition is certainly not the greatest. I am not necessarily disagreeing with your assertation that he is the best, as I am very new to high school recruiting myself, but its not like he is doing this against Miami Northwestern. He is at a low level of competition even for PA standards.

western Pennsylvania football at any level rivals that of what we have here in Ohio.

The schools might not be the biggest and the depth of talent isn't as deep in the lower levels, but there are several legit D-1 college players in the region every year.

[RB07OSU]

He's in the WPIAL, which is supposed to be one of the toughest conferences in the country I thought, unless there is more than 1 WPIAL?

[BuckeyeMike80]

Originally Posted by RB07OSU

He's in the WPIAL, which is supposed to be one of the toughest conferences in the country I thought, unless there is more than 1 WPIAL?

the WPIAL is similar to the OCC in Ohio.....or whatever high school conferences they have in Cleveland...

[BengalsAndBucks]

Originally Posted by RB07OSU

He's in the WPIAL, which is supposed to be one of the toughest conferences in the country I thought, unless there is more than 1 WPIAL?

I dont think the WPIAL is one big league, I believe it is a collection of different leagues of the different divisions in Western Pennsylvania. My understanding of it would compare it to the GCL (I am from Cincinnati). St Xavier and McNicholas are both in the GCL, but dont play each other during the season, and the level of competition that each faces is very very different, with X playing top D1 teams all around the state and country, and McNick plays only local D2, D3, and D4 teams. However, both are in the GCL, and so the name recognition can give McNick some false credibility.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by RB07OSU

May be but just speaking in terms of how much someone has dominated on the HS level only, I think it's legit to consider. Nobody can stop him even when defenses key completely on him and he is at about the highest level of competition you can be at for the high school level.

I think there was a certain Texas HS quarterback in 2003 that was just as dominant despite entire defenses keying on him. He ended up playing against us in The Shoe in 2005...

[OHSportsFan9]

yeah, but how good was Vince at Bball?

[buckeyes_rock]

Originally Posted by BengalsAndBucks

I dont think the WPIAL is one big league, I believe it is a collection of different leagues of the different divisions in Western Pennsylvania. My understanding of it would compare it to the GCL (I am from Cincinnati). St Xavier and McNicholas are both in the GCL, but dont play each other during the season, and the level of competition that each faces is very very different, with X playing top D1 teams all around the state and country, and McNick plays only local D2, D3, and D4 teams. However, both are in the GCL, and so the name recognition can give McNick some false credibility.

Well here's their website

WPIAL : WPIAL Member Schools

Looks like a ton of schools are members.

[Bob Saccamano]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

I think there was a certain Texas HS quarterback in 2003 that was just as dominant despite entire defenses keying on him. He ended up playing against us in The Shoe in 2005...

Drew Tate?

[RB07OSU]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

I think there was a certain Texas HS quarterback in 2003 that was just as dominant despite entire defenses keying on him. He ended up playing against us in The Shoe in 2005...

Young was certainly on my mind when I posted that but it's in my personal opinion Pryor is more dominant at this point. Will he be the player that Vince Young was at Texas I don't know but as far as HS production goes, I think Pryor is better on paper and on film. I just watched Young's film on Rivals and he didn't seem to have any "wow" runs like Pryor does. He is extremely fast and just runs by defenders but Pryor looks like a better passer on film. Not to mention, according to Young's bio he was a"Three-year starter at quarterback at Madison (Houston, Texas) High School totaled 7624 yards from scrimmage during prep career". Pryor has eclipsed that mark his senior year! On top of that, Pryor is 6'6 235 vs. Vince Young's 6'5 195 and has been clocked in the 4.3 range with Vince Young in the 4.4 range. Pryor is just unreal and I can't find anyone anymore dominant since I've followed recruiting.

[NastyDogg72]

I moved to Erie from Youngstown 9 years ago for work and will try to make the best sense out of the divisions here in PA as I can. In the time I have been here the divisions have been restructured twice. The WPIAL is the collection of all schools in Western PA, WPIAL contains schools from all four divisions in PA, AAAA, AAA, AA, A. WPIAL has to determine a champion in each division which then takes on the champion of region 10 which is schools from around Butler and north to Erie. This winner then takes on the champion of the eastern regions in Hershey for the state championship. AAAA is the largest school division in PA similar to Division 1 in Ohio, Jeanette for example is AA which would be similar to division 3 or 4 in Ohio. Think Cardinal Mooney or Coldwater. The media polls in PA are generally tilted towards the Philadelphia schools and the eastern part of the state, most of my friends from Erie say it borders on comical. A few years ago McDowell from here in Erie played the number 1 ranked team in the state and won by 42. The western part of the state as expected is stronger in football and the east dominates basketball. WPIAL champions this year that I know are AAAA - Pittsburgh Central Catholic, AAA - Thomas Jefferson and AA - Jeanette. Pennsylvania divisions and affiliations are all regionalized and can be a bit confusing. As far as the strength of the WPIAL, it has some strong teams (PCC, Gateway, Jeanette and TJ) but many have padded records from playing much lesser opponents from smaller divisions within the WPIAL.