Was Pryor really injured for Texas?Shortly after the Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas, rumors began sprouting up about Pryor possibly having an injured shoulder for the game. After all, how else to explain the all of the ducks and the times he ran out of bounds early to avoid contact.
Though we heard most of the same tales that you did (he sprained his shoulder in bowl practice, he had a bad wrist, etc.) we never ran anything because, well, it was never verified.
Then, three weeks ago, theclevelandfan.com ran a story saying Pryor was quoted after the game saying the injury "was pretty bad" and that the shoulder was injured because he had "rolled it". Curiously, these quotes were never attributed to anyone as their entire article was link-free save for a few on their game recap. Regardless, a couple of other big players ran with this and soon the Pryor shoulder injury rumor was gospel.
Not so fast, says the Dispatch's Bob Hunter:
OSU quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels squashed rumors that Terrelle Pryor had an injured shoulder during the Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas. The rumors were rampant on Internet message boards, and some even reported that Pryor had been quoted as saying he tweaked the shoulder during the game.
The whispers apparently were based in part of some poor Pryor passes and a couple of plays in which he ran out of bounds rather than turn upfield to gain a few more yards. But Daniels said this week that Pryor's shoulder was never injured.
Now, Hunter has been wrong before, but getting the info from Joe Daniels seems pretty reliable. Why wouldn't the staff feel free to disclose that fact now? They don't play a game until the shoulder will be in good shape, so it's not like they'd have to worry about tipping a team off.
But is that the case? The evidence on film seems to indicate that something was wrong. Is there any truth to the notion that his shoulder was taped in the game, causing his jersey to hang unevenly, like theclevelandfan.com said?
After reviewing tape, I didn't see anything funny with his jersey, but I'm still kind of having a hard time believing the same guy that made such a jump throwing the ball after a bye-week would regress so much with the 50+ days to prepare for the Fiesta Bowl.
What do you think?
Comments
the Bucknuts radio hour had an interview with TP after the Fiesta Bowl and he said his shoulder was hurt. I was always surprised no one took this and went anywhere with it because it came straight from the horse's mouth. TP said it was hurt. end of story.
Not only that, it looked hurt. I'm not buying it. I don't know why Daniels sees fit to deny it, but Pryor was either hurt or his passing magically regressed in that 50 day layoff.
I have always wondered why JT refused to play Boeckman after the benching, but then in the Fiesta Bowl, that was our secret weapon. If it wasn't hurt, then why was The Todd out there throwing the last hail mary, when there are rumors of TP having the ability to chuck it 65+ yards?
I think Sept 5 can't get here soon enough ... that's what I think.
TP's issues when throwing the ball during the season can be directly attributed to poor foot work which often caused him to push the ball. Non-mechanical issues: his inability to read defenses at times caused him to have some happy feet and hold the ball. During the Fiesta Bowl, even though his mechanics with his feet broke down at times, I can recall some ugly passes when it appeared he set up correctly.
This coaching staff isn't exactly forthcoming with injury news. Anybody remember Beanie Wells last year and toe-gate leading up to the USC game? Tressel is very Belechick-esque when it comes to injuries.
And Todd Boeckman had footwork issues too.
as are most all college coaches, and the only reason why NFL coaches at large are not is because the NFL requires them to be at least somewhat honest about the extent of injuries.
I believe it was hurt, that wasn't the same fiery TP we had seen all season. The coaches probably don't want any excuses airing for the loss. You know how Tressel is about crediting the victors....
I hope it was injured. If he looked that horrid healthy I wouldn't be overly optimistic for the next 2-3 years.
He may have been hurt but if that's the case he sure looked good using that shoulder to catch passes late in the game and at times throwing the ball.
What's interesting is how many of us want to believe he was hurt when it's entirely possible he wasn't and just hasn't learned much with regard to footwork and mechanics of throwing the football. We've seen the layoff hurt the entire team for x-number of years in a row but we all want to believe Pryor would've progressed with his mechanics over that same time period. Curious.
Your right. at about the 23 minute mark of the Bucknuts radio hour from January 7th, Dave Biddle claims he spoke to Terrelle immediately after the game who told him that he was hurt going into the game. This is the best most straight forward evidence of this story.
Two points:
* What's most odd to me is Hunter claims Joe Daniels 'squashed' the rumor but didn't include a direct quote from Daniels himself. WTH.
* The theclevelandfan.com article is disappointing on so many levels. I'm pleased to see 11W basically call it out since it didn't link a damn thing to support the quotes or shoulder-pad-fitting-incorrectly thing. In fact, the shoulder-pad-fitting-incorrectly thing is just flat out not true. One can see multiple photos of TP from the Texas game on the Ozone and none support the claim.
http://photo.the-ozone.net/def...
This isn't to say TP wasn't hurt, however. It's to say I haven't seen any support to the jersey thing.
i think TP was probably injured (i agree his body language certainly made it look that way) but i also wouldn't be surprised if he got the yips like he did against michigan
First, Bob Hunter sucks and should hang up his reporters pen.
I was watching the game thinking, if this is Pryor at his best in a big-game then we are in deep shit. I watched him miss short passes and long passes and run out of bounds to avoid contact.... something must have been wrong. Pryor's passing improved steadily game by game and to suddenly play that bad after 50+ days of practice and coaching doesn't add up. It also makes sense that Tressel promised that we would see Boeckman in the game (UnTressel like move) as Tress knew he had a problem on his hands with and injury.
Man, what could have been if he had been 100% for the game.... I think Daniels and Tressel are just gentleman and really don't want the focus of the loss on Pryor's shoulders (literally). Good coaches cover the player's butts... unlike coaches that call players out.
AMEN!
To make it more interesting, the Bob Hunter reference to the quarterbacks coach does not have any quotation or links. Normally, when someone "squashes'" a rumor it contains one direct quotation from the squasher.
Hmmm. The plot thickens.
Whats even more interesting is that gossip over TP's shoulder gets more comments than the Basketball team's win over Minnesota.
I think we are going to the tournament boys!
Oh yah, keep your football comments to the football articles.
I have a hard enough time dealing with you fair weather Buckeye fans. You could at least pretend to care about basketball.
There was clearly something wrong. The two times he ran out of HOUNDS was just strange. Something about this kid scares me.
LOL! You comment about the basketball team by saying they're going to the tourney, bitch about more comments on Pryor's shoulder than on the Minny thread, here on a football thread, yet you tell the "fair weather" Buckeye fans to keep their football comments confined to the football articles.
Irony, thy name is canukeye. Maybe you should follow your own advice?
Unfortunately, unless Pryor or the coaching staff comes clean with some information, this is all open to speculation. As far as the "injured shoulder or not" speculation goes, I don't know which side of the fence to choose, but he was clearly avoiding contact the times he went out of bounds.
I'm hoping it was a really bad bruise.
There had to be something there...you just don't run out of bounds like that. I'm going to bring up something that isn't going to be popular. I don't see alot of team-oriented behavior from him. He's self-centered and needs to grow up. That could be because he was a freshman and the upperclassman had an axe to grind about the QB change. He is one very gifted athlete, but he has a way to go before he is as mature as Troy Smith... A true team guy. Don't get me wrong, a great freshman year and an awesome athlete, but some of the things he says about college being no different than high school are sort of strange. I think we will know more this year when the new group comes in. Looking forward to it...it is time for a change.
LOL! Maybe I was using irony to make my point a point!
Moronic! Thy name is Tom Blogical.
While I agree he has to grow up and mature, I'm not sure that I agree that he isn't a team player. I just didn't get that impression, especially when he was so quick to congratulate Boeckman during the Michigan game. I also agree that he has a lot of talent, and that he said some things he shouldn't have (which goes back to the maturity issue).
We'll see what happens. Hopefully he'll listen to Coach Tressel's guidance.
If he wasn't a team player, he wouldn't have told Jimmy T. to bench him if they didn't score...
That's your excuse? It's obvious it was a terrible way to make your point, which was...my point. And you're calling me moronic? LOL! Ok...
Again, try following your own advice so you don't waste everyone's time with this BS.
Yeah, that too. Good point.
this is off topic but how is purdue still ranked... and above us?
we have the better recored in conference and better total wins... don't get it... though they did play oklahoma to overtime and lost and lost to duke.
If Terrelle Pryor had a hurt shoulder, then why did they send him out there as a wide receiver? Then, why would they call his number in those situations? And why did he have no trouble going up for, and catching, the football over a defender? Wouldn't it have been an unnecessary risk keeping him out there as a wide receiver, where he could have come down on his hurt shoulder, or tweak an ankle, or something like that?
Does it really matter now?
maybe. it matters if he just sucks at throwing and isnt going to get any better
hmm...vaild point
Exactly.
I feel that TP was injured during the game. Those few plays where he ducked out of bounds instead of getting the first down or throwing a stiff arm out were very uncharacteristic of him if you look at his body of work during the season. I've read some articles that have said the package of Boeckman and Pryor was created only because Terrelle got injured. It certainly makes sense if you think about it---Terrelle may need work on his passing, but certainly is not as bad as he showed in the Fiesta Bowl
To be honest with the amount of shit everyone talks about the Buckeyes, I'm fairly certain the coaching staff doesn't want to exacerbate the problem by making any excuses.
Daniels is smart.
Think about it. If it got out that the coaching staff said TP's shoulder was injured during the game the media and general college football world would have a heyday with it. They would say we were trying to make an excuse.. etc. blah blah blah.. We lost the game fair and square and I think it was a smart choice of the coaching staff to move on and not that let that get out..
For Christ's sake people relax. He is very talented and a freshman qb thrust into the starting role before he or anybody on staff really wanted him to be "the guy." He does some things really well and others he needs work on. Sounds like a FRESHMAN!
Now if he struggles next year then we can worry about what kind of QB he will be, but I'm sure all of you doubters/pannicky petes will be loving him again the first time he has a jaw-dropping play in 2009. I think he will be in NYC for the Heisman presentation (hopefully a winner) and lead the Bucks back to the promised land before his career as a Buckeye is over. He is a special talent.
Is that the same Troy Smith who went on an eating and sex rampage, ater winning the Heisman, that cost us a National Championship? Yeah, real mature and team oriented.
Maybe b/c they lost their games last week without their best player, and if Hummel was in there the games probably would have gone the other way. We'll have to earn it when we go to Purdue, they'll be looking to pay us back for that little ally oop to Mullens at the end of the game.
I don't really care if he was hurt or not. All I care about is that he will be healthy and ready to go in September. We will see how he is doing when the spring game rolls around. If he's not throwing well then, I'll start worrying.
I wish they would have made the USC game a noon kickoff. It would be great for the Trojans to have to fly out here then start getting ready at 5-6 am their time to play at 9 am their time. F'ing TV.
chuckr:
I'm hoping you're replying to JimmyT. I didn't mention Troy Smith.
I'm relaxed, and I'm not a "panicky pete". If his shoulder isn't hurt, I think he's got a lot of work to do with his passing game. Simple as that.
I also agree he's a special talent, which is why I suspect he must've been hurting to throw that poorly the last few games.
Maybe you're not really replying to me, but if you are, stop panicking and take a look at all of my comments on this thread, and relax.
Holy cow, people. There can't be a conversation about something without being called "panicky petes", "doubters" and "fair-weather fans"? Talk about freaking out over something.
Troy also took $500 bucks from a booster--not exactly team player material there. Also, TP is only 18 years old. Give him a few years to get his sea legs of leadership under him and I'll bet he's a great team guy. Finally, it's hard to be a team first guy when half of the locker room wishes your inferior predecessor started instead of you.
the point is it doesnt matter anymore, we lost, end of story.
Wow do we, Buckeye fans, look like excuse makers in this post. Joe Daniels is a good guy and a good coach. Pryor was not hurt.....he just played bad. This can be attributed to a couple of issues:
1) poor mechanics he has had since day 1
2) 1 of the 1st Big Time games of his career (didn't play to well at USC or vs PSU either)
3) rotating QB's and never getting in rythm
He was not injured. If you want to throw the "then why was he running out of bouds early" thing out there........you need to watch the game over. He ran out of bounds when his left shoulder was exposed to contact.......there were several times when his right shoulder was exposed and he took on the hit. Even if he did say that his shoulders was hurt, Daniels said it was not. Those of you who are taking the word of an 18 year old freshman in college over the QB coach at OSU....you are idiots. Pryor is young, and as many young people do, he was looking for an excuse. Daniels is a grown man who helped Troy Smith gorw and mature into a Heisman trophy winner......I'm going to take his word for it.
Here's the thing, hurt not hurt, something was not right in that game with Pryor. He never ducked contact all season long. He gave out some nasty stiffy arms all year. As for not being a team player, I think that's garbage. I mean when Robiskie or Hartline would give a half ass effort for him because they wanted Boekman starting, you never heard him complain, you never heard him cause trouble, he just came back out and played.
Can you imagine, how bad the season could've been with Boeckman starting. I mean everyone would have blitzed non stop and he would've pulled a Boeckman and froze like a deer in the headlights. Wisconsin would've beat them for sure. I'll take a crappy passing Pryor over Boeckman anyday. Boeckman completed a couple of nice passes in the bowl game but he over threw and underthrew some too. He didn't look like a great passer in that game to me either.
I love Pryor, he's going to go down as one of the greats.
Brian, I have to disagree with you. I think our season would have turned out pretty much the same with Boeckman starting instead of Pryor. Wisconsin game would have been close and we could have possibly lost....but the PSU game would have still been close and we could have possibly won.
Pryor is great and I'm sure Daniels will get his passing mechanics fixed. However, I thought he tried to aviod contact most of the season (which isn't a bad thing for a starting QB).
Seth:
Again, I didn't mention Troy Smith. I assume you didn't intend to reply to me, but JimmyT is the guy who talked about Troy Smith, not me.
I know for a fact that his shoulder was not hurt. But in fact he injured his neck at practice before leaving for AZ. He tweaked his neck trying to make block during practice. Again this is fact. This discussion is fairly useless as his performance during the game was still amazing given the fact that he was a freshman. While his passes may have floated and he looked to get out of bounds early, I would venture a guess that not many could have performed better given the circumstances.
I guess maybe we just disagree. I saw him make some pretty impressive blocks through the season, and sick stiff arms. I didn't see him run away from contact, and I agree it's not a bad thing the he did.
I know you didn't make the comment, but I don't understand how the guy isn't perceived as a team player. I mean I saw him get excited from Beanie hurtling a defender, or if he made a block that helped Beanie gain yards. He is constantly pushing himself to do better, but what great athlete doesn't. If the offensive line would have done that all season this team may have been special.
Respectfully, I'm not buying it.
He passed well vs USC (7/9, 52) and vs Penn State (16/25, 226).
Given that our national title hopes were on the line vs. USC and the B10 Title/Rose Bowl was on the line against PSU, an argument could be made that those were bigger games than another trip to the Fiesta vs. a disappointed Texas team.
I'd also submit his first big time B10 road game vs then-ranked Wisconsin at night in freaked-out Camp Randall may have been a bigger game for him in terms of getting the 'yips.'
My pont is, he played in as big of games this year against as good or beter of defenses than what Texas threw out there, and he played much better than he did vs. Texas.
Maybe he had an off night, but he just looked like a different player. Beyond the awful passing, as others have said, he was playing without his usual fire. I tape all the games to get me through the winter/spring and I can't recall him just casually walking out of bounds like that in any other game this year.
It makes sense that folks are looking for answers because it was quite a departure form what we'd seen from him in just about every other game this year. I don't think it's excuse-making - I think it was so puzzling and unexpected that everyone still has a collective Whisky Tango Foxtrot feeling about it.
No, he is very much a team player and is always up supporting the defense. The only way I can see people saying this is because he ran to much and didn't get the ball to the receivers enough......that doesn't mean he isn't a team player.....he was a true freshman....let him learn to read defenses a little better.....our receiver production will go up this year, just wait.
Frosty, how did you come across this fact that seemed to elude espn, si, and all the major analysts?
I agree he relied on his feet too much, that's what Troy Smith did his first year too. I mean he always had the deep ball but sometimes he took off a little prematurely.
why is this game not primetime? or do you think this benefits us?
It is a primetime kickoff.
This is fact? Again, this is fact?
I have not seen or heard of this once. That is fact.
Linkage?
I met him on the day before he left for AZ and we were talking. He was complaining about a hit he at laid on a running play and his neck was really "tweaked" (his words) Of course you dont have to believe me, but that is up to you. I was truly impressed with him. I am in my mid thirties and he kept calling me and my wife sir and mam. He spoke about how excited he was, but also very nervous. In fact he mentioned that he was excited to run the play in the game where Todd through him a pass. Needless to say we were stoked when we saw the actual play.
Two questions:
1. What ever happened to Jay Burson?
2. What ever happened to Lebron's buddy, Sian Cotton? I don't remember him making much of an impact...
Sian rarely saw the field, transferred.
to YSU, I believe. May have played against us one of the last two years, along with Larcenous Louis Irrizary
Those State Farm commercials made me wonder about Cotton. He was short, wasn't he? Like a runt. If he went to YSU the Vest must have helped him.
This thread has lost control. For all of you either worrying or "not worrying but concerned"...jesus grab a hold of reality. Let me think how shitty our last 5 Qbs would be as a freshman...pretty terrible. TP showed he can play the game, he has an arm and of course...he has at least 2 more years to learn. Hurt...not hurt, if we were playing any other FQB, we would expect total disaster. I expect great things--- it's called a positive outlook. He has world class talent, I hope he can work hard enough to be an all-time great. For anyone thinking he is not going to be the answer, I suggest you pick a day somewhere in the future that you will die and tell everyone that "you saw it coming"...same logic...no? I want the Bucks to win, I think they can win with the talent they have amassed...Go Bucks! The pre-emptive-I-told-so fan pisses me off more than anything. Go Bucks, be positive.
Preach on, Brother COB.
COB, I'm not trying to say he isn't the answer. What I am saying is for people to quit looking for excuses as to why he had a bad game like "he hurt his shoulder" or "his neck was tweaked." The reasons he had a bad game were that he was a true freshman without much big game experience and had bad throwing mechanics.
Next year he will be a soph and I fully expect his throwing mechanics to be fixed with an off-season of work. People try to compare him to Tebow, but they forget that Tebow enrolled early so Urban Meyer had all Spring before his freshman year to work out all the kinks. Pryor did not enroll early so he was pretty much learning on the fly this year. I expect to see great improvement with an entire off-season of this coaching staff working with him.