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PG East: Jeannette's Pryor reconsiders his future on football field
Thursday, August 24, 2006
By Chris Adamski, Tri-State Sports & News Service
Terrelle Pryor likely has a very bright athletic future ahead of him, but he wants people to know he's not just thinking of himself.
A star at Jeannette, he is best known for being a standout basketball player. But he was also the starting quarterback as a sophomore on a very good Jayhawks football team last season.
A year older, Pryor sounds a year wiser, which should not only pay dividends on the football field, but also for what has become a very public life.
"I'm not setting any individual goals. I'm not looking at being anything myself," Pryor said. "If I set my goals, I do it for the team. I'm not setting any goals other than that for the football team and what they need from me."
Pryor admits that during last basketball season, when he averaged 21.5 points per game in leading the Jayhawks to the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals, he might have been thinking too much of himself. But Pryor is saying the right things as he heads into this academic year, sounding like a changed young man.
"It's hard, talking to people, people talking to me, trying to make decisions," Pryor said. "Now I have talked to some people and decided to relax. The pressure, it was unbelievable. I don't want to sound like I am complaining, but you don't even understand. I can't express the words to explain it."
Pryor said he is beginning to understand the repercussions of his actions and the reaction he might generate.
There are the not-so-kind rumblings from Pitt fans, for example, after Pryor initially verbally committed to play basketball for the Panthers, but reopened his options.
One of those options is football. There are those in the high school and college football ranks who believe Pryor, 6 feet 5, 220 pounds, is a superior player, and that he has been given some bad advice about not pursuing football more.
He was a regular at several big-time basketball camps, but not at major football camps.
"He's a hard worker, but the AAU guys do a good job keeping him away from football camps," Jeannette football coach Ray Reitz said. "If he would go to one camp, I can't even imagine ... I think everybody in the country would want him."
As recently as late spring, Pryor expressed little interest in playing college football in an interview with the Post-Gazette and insinuated that his future career ranked above winning when prioritizing his goals. Reitz at the time sounded frustrated, too.
That all seems changed now for a gracious, polite Pryor.
"I want to be a leader now," Pryor said. "It's a big role, too. The last couple of seasons -- even in basketball -- I got a bit big-headed. I want to be different and play for my team even more.
"I'm not saying I didn't play for my team last year, but I want to make sure that every time I step on the field or court now, I am doing it for my team and my teammates."
Reitz, who expressed a renewed commitment and attitude in Pryor, isn't afraid to throw a high-profile name out to compare Pryor to: Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, who led the University of Texas to the national championship in January.
"He's very elusive and athletic, and he's strong, too," Reitz said. "He has the strength and accuracy in his arm. He's got a gift from God. And he's got the heart to work hard, too.
"There's nothing he can't do on a football field."
Pryor passed for 647 yards and six touchdowns during the regular season last year, and had team-highs in rushing attempts (90), yards (596) and touchdowns (12) as the Jayhawks went 8-1 before losing to Mohawk in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.
Perhaps in the past, Pryor would have felt the pressure to improve his stats this year or, worse, not play football at all to reduce the risk of injury for basketball.
Not this season. Now when he is asked what his goals are for the year, "I" is not used. Just "we."
"We have to play every single game and play hard and work hard and not look past anybody," he said. "We're in a good [conference]. But we want to get into the playoffs and win in the playoffs."
