Five Things For Heisman
Can Pryor pull off a Heisman upset in 2009?Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks Terrelle Pryor has a more than legitimate shot at the 2009 Heisman Trophy.
The odds for college football’s most prestigious individual award have started to be released and Pryor is gaining some respect on a lot of sites around the net. BetUs.com and Sportbet.com have Pryor fourth on their list at +800 and +700 respectively behind Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy, and other sites such as Gridironexperts.com give an easier-to-understand odds on Pryor (for those that don’t understand the money line) winning the Heisman at 8:1 odds.
So Buckeye Nation is clearly not alone in seeing that LiC has the potential to be an absolute star at the college level, but the one thing that will be tough to convince the rest of the nation is why Pryor should win the Heisman Trophy over the three players unanimously ahead of him in all of the odds listing: Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy.
After much deliberation and tossing back and forth ideas with the rest of the 11W crew here is a list of five things Terrelle Pryor must do to win the 2009 Heisman Trophy:
1. Beat USC
Every Heisman voter will be looking closely as to how the candidates perform against top notch teams and in big games. These voters will be even more skeptical when looking at Ohio State Heisman candidates in these situations, especially after how OSU’s last Heisman winner performed in the MNC and the beating the Buckeyes’ reputation has taken on the big stage since that awful night in Glendale.
This obviously brings us to September 12, 2009, where the Buckeyes will get a re-match against the Southern California Trojans in a prime time evening game in the Horseshoe. Not only will the Bucks be playing for revenge after an embarrassing 35-3 loss in The Coliseum last fall, but will also be looking to show the country that they are serious in their run for a National Championship this season. If the Buckeyes can surprise the world and beat the Trojans, you better believe Pryor will be a big part of that win and will vault himself right next to the three favorites at the top of the Heisman list. The USC game is a must-win for Terrelle if he wants to be invited to New York in December.
2. Put Up Nintendo Numbers
Last season Tim Tebow threw for 2,746 yards and 30 touchdowns against just 4 interceptions while completing 64.4% of his passes. He also ran for 673 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground. Colt McCoy completed 76.7% of his passes while throwing for 3,859 yards and 34 touchdowns against just 8 interceptions. He ran for 561 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. Sam Bradford, the winner, threw for 4,720 yards and 50 touchdowns against 8 interceptions while completing 67.9% of his passes. He only ran for 47 yards on the ground, but did have 5 touchdowns with his legs.
The one thing these three 2008 Heisman finalists had in common were gaudy numbers. Terrelle Pryor is now “the guy” at Ohio State and with a full season under his belt, will be expected to put up similar numbers to Tim, Sam, and Colt if he expects to compete with them for the hardware. Pryor was very efficient in 2008, completing 60.6% of his passes for 1,311 yards and 13 scores against just 4 interceptions through the air. He ran for 631 yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground. He will have to triple his passing yards and double his touchdowns through the air in order to just be in the race at the end of the season and will have to rush for close to 1,000 yards and double-digit scores on the ground to get an edge on his three opponents in that category.
All of these things are possible, as Terrelle just started 10 games last season and now will be behind center from game one. He has now gone through a bowl practice, a spring practice, and has a full summer of film to study and help him progress to get to the level he needs to be at to win the Heisman in ‘09. This leads us to…
3. Read Through The Progressions Quicker
While arm strength and endurance can be worked on in the weight room, learning the mental part of the game does not come as easy. Numerous hours in the dorm room breaking down the playbook, days spent watching film, daily team meetings, and a quick learning curve are just some of the things Pryor will need to become a complete player at the quarterback position for Jim Tressel’s offense. Troy Smith showed in 2005 that he could be good based on talent alone, but during the regular season in 2006 he showed what could be done once the entire offense was mastered by his mind.
Last season Terrelle did a lot of good things for the Buckeyes, but one thing that he clearly needed to work on was going through his progressions quicker and checking down off his first and second options on passing plays. This year, as he gets more comfortable with Ray Small, DeVier Posey, Dane Sanzenbacher, and the other receivers on the team, he will be expected to make the best decision whether the play goes according to plan or breaks down in front of him. This even includes using the tight end (we have those at Ohio State? I thought that was just a sixth offensive lineman), which has not been a position featured too frequently in Jim Tressel’s tenure at OSU, but has some quality talent in Jake Ballard and the newly-transitioned Jake Stoneburner.
Pryor also needs to read through progressions quicker so that he can make a decision of whether to take off and run or stay in the backfield and try to pass. It seemed that earlier in the season he was more apt to run, maybe even too early at times, but as the season went on he tried to stay in the pocket and pass the ball, at times staying there too long and taking unwarranted sacks. Terrelle is a tremendously gifted athlete and if he can learn to read coverages and run through his progressions quicker, he will be able to take full advantage of both his ability to pass and run on any given play.
The physical talent is there and the arm development and physical maturity is coming along nicely. It will be up to Terrelle Pryor to improve his mental capacity of the game so that he can play at a faster level and make the best decisions possible when a play breaks down and does not go according to plan. If he can accomplish these things, his numbers will in turn improve and it will make both #1 and #2 more likely to happen.
4. Be A Leader Both By Example and Vocally
While there were games last year where you clearly saw Pryor lead by example (see: here), there were certainly moments where TP was shy to vocalize leadership. Taking over for senior captain Todd Boeckman could not have made things any easier for a freshman that already had high expectations on his shoulders and there is no question Pryor did not want to be as loud as he could have been at times.
This year is different as the Buckeyes are a younger squad and the locker room is fully belonging to Pryor. In 2009 Pryor needs to continue to be a leader by example on the field like he was in the Wisconsin game and Penn State game before the fumble, while being able to be a vocal leader that can rile the troops up when needed as well. Both of these things come with the job of being the quarterback at Ohio State and come with maturing as a person off the field.
While Terrelle is only a 19 year old sophomore-to-be he will be asked to grow up quite quickly both on and off of the field. Once again, if he is able to do this, his Heisman candidacy and the National Championship hopes of the Buckeyes will look better and better.
5. Put Ohio State In National Championship Contention
We can’t ask for too much, but a chance, just a chance, to play in the National Championship game in Pasadena is what we can ask for. The Heisman Trophy voting occurs before the bowl season and Pryor will not even be invited to the ceremony as a finalist if OSU is not successful this season. If Pryor and the Buckeyes take care of business against USC and steps 2-4 on this list happen, there is a good chance that the Bucks will indeed be playing for the MNC in early January or will at worst still be in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, meaning that Terrelle has done his job and deserves to be considered with McCory, Tebow, and Bradford for the Heisman.
If Pryor can somehow do all five things on this list, I feel he will be able to edge the three favorites and win the Heisman Trophy, becoming the second true sophomore ever to do so, and more importantly protecting Archie Griffin as the only two-time winner of the award. The sky is the limit for Terrelle Pryor and it will be up to him and the rest of the Ohio State Buckeyes to determine his Heisman Trophy fate in 2009.
And just to get you pumped up…….
The best way for LiC to win the Heisman would be to pull a Tonya Harding on Tebow, McCoy, and Bradford!
just Kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’d be completely happy with a Rose Bowl this year and a MNC and Heisman next year :)
Heisman trophy or NC?????? I’d rather have the NC. It is so hard for a Heisman winner to be ready for the NC game… alot of time away from practice and alot of distractions… Pryor has more pure athletic talent than any of the above mentioned contenders, period. He has to overcome the anti-OSU bias and the TEAM has to beat the top notch talent– USC, Penn St., Bowl game.
NC no doubt. When Red Kryptonite won it in ‘06, I was happy at first and then I thought, “we’re screwed”.
Scratch “Bowl Game” from that list as it will be played after the the Bronze is handed out.
Let me tell you why Tebow will NOT win the Heisman this year. At some point during the season, people will start to realize what I have already noticed, which is that the Florida schedule this year is an absolute embarrassment. The voters are not stupid. At the end of the year, no matter how gaudy the stats may be, they will have come against one of the weakest schedules ever assembled by a “championship” team. Here’s a little piece I wrote regarding the Florida schedule:
2009 Florida Gators Football Schedule: Really?
9/5 Charleston South.
9/12 Troy
9/19 Tennessee
9/26 at Kentucky
10/3 OPEN DATE
10/10 at LSU
10/17 Arkansas
10/24 at Miss State
10/31 Georgia (Jack.)
11/7 Vanderbilt
11/14 at South Carolina
11/21 FIU
11/28 Florida State
Looks a lot like Alabama’s schedule. Way too many easy games and only five games away from the Swamp, one of which is still in FL in Jacksonville vs. GA. The others are at KY, LSU, MS ST and at SC. Really? If you look at the rest of the schedule, they get the three worst teams from the SEC this year in KY, Vandy & MS ST. Combine those three games with their ridiculous out-of-conference schedule of Charleston South, Troy and FIU and that’s half of their schedule. That’s 6 wins where they could start the 2nd string! Don’t forget about the two other lay-ups against Arkansas and South Carolina. Enough of the “Any SEC team can lose 1 game and still make it to the NC game” bullcrap. Considering how weak this schedule is, and I mean weak as in maybe the easiest schedule of all top 25 teams, if Florida loses one game, no matter to whom, it should end any discussion about a repeat NC game. Way to challenge yourself Florida. And you SEC blowhards want to talk about Ohio State’s schedule every year. Go on, compare them this year. SEC, SEC, SEC! Weak.
Since when does schedule strength matter with respect to Heisman winners? It’s all about stat aggregation, buzz, and overall team success. Could Florida get slightly penalized if inexplicably 3 teams finish undefeated? It’s possible. But would Tebow be individually punished if he puts up a body of work that body carries the obligatory Gameday Final type highlights, an unscathed (or nearly unscathed ala 08) regular season, and the stats to match? Unlikely.
I think the strength of schedule and quality of opponents definitely matters. I’m not saying it’s a huge factor, but in a tight race for the Heisman, it will be brought up. Look at Troy’s Heisman year. He had less stats than any of the other 3 from last year. He only threw for like 2500 yards with 30 TD’s and 1 rushing TD. Those aren’t gaudy stats at all. We did, however, manage to beat two #2 teams in the same season, TX at TX and Michigan was undefeated at the end of the season when we played them.
troy’s passing efficiency was off the charts though, and i think voters acknowledged that Tressel wasn’t ever going to have him throw 30 times a game with any sort of regularity
I agree completely, but they got that speed that the Big-Ten cant match… and Tebow is a divine gift— gag!
Everyone knows the bottom 3 SEC teams would dominate the Big 10! I’m sure Florida will go out and schedule a powerhouse like Citadel to fill that open date. The have 2 potentially tough games on that schedule LSU and FSU. Of course every year is the year that FSU is supposed to be “back” and they fall short.
I agree this is a weak schedule, but it’ Florida and the SEC. Kind of like Duke in basketball, they will have hype and they will be there. I know the BCS incorporates more than media, but Notre Dame wins 3 or 4 games and some how they end up in the BCS top 10. I think it’s very likely that with a weak schedule and 1 loss, Florida will still be there and Tebow will be a finalist for the Heisman. I don’t know if he’ll win, but the writers all love him and we know how much he is hyped. I mean he is the greatest player to ever play college football, it has to be true ESPN said so.
The Florida schedule is an “absolute embarrassment”? The “voters aren’t stupid”? From Buckeye fans? Really???
Think all the way back to 2007…
Charleston South = YSU
Troy = Akron
FIU = Kent St.
Florida St. > Washington
SEC > Big 10
Sounds like the voters were stupid that year… “If Florida loses one game, no matter to whom, it should end any discussion about a repeat NC game”? So, would a loss to Illinois count?
wow, It’s B…… have you been working on that analogy all day?? Did someone else post this on your Go Blue site and you copied and pasted it?? Go somewhere else to spread your propoganda. I challenged you to talk smack win or lose after the OSU-MICH game last year and you were NOWHERE to be seen…. the result will be the same this year also. You lose the right to talk smack on your timeline if you cannot back up your mouth– Lets see how good the Michigan schedule is this year: Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Delaware State and Notre Dame are the Non-conference games— LOL LOL LOL LOL…… with a scheudle like that, Shut it and walk.
Sat, Sep 5 Football Western Michigan
Sat, Sep 12 Football Notre Dame
Sat, Sep 19 Football Eastern Michigan
Sat, Sep 26 Football Indiana
Sat, Oct 3 Football Michigan State
Sat, Oct 10 Football Iowa
Sat, Oct 17 Football Delaware State
Sat, Oct 24 Football Penn State
Sat, Oct 31 Football Illinois
Sat, Nov 7 Football Purdue
Sat, Nov 14 Football Wisconsin
Sat, Nov 21 Football Ohio State
haha he wasn’t talking about Michigan’s schedule. Michigan is completely irrelevant to the argument at hand. He was simply pointing out that OSU had a cake walk to the MNC game in 2007 and were any of you complaining then? Exaclty so keep the argument legitimate. That comeback was as good as any youre momma joke.
Stop eating paint chips. The point was that Florida should be out of the discussion if they lost 1 game on their craptacular schedule….and they should.
Compare them to 2007 OSU all you want, if you remember, they were out of the NC discussion that year until the last weeks of the year were filled with a slew of upsets.
Here I’ll reword it for your SEC edumuhcashun.
If Florida loses 1 game they should be out of the NC conversation………………………unless all hell breaks loose and some crazy shit happens where the top 3 teams in the country all lose in the last 2 weeks making every legitimate contender except Florida a 2 loss team.
Oh, and B……it seems you forgot that Illinois went to a BCS bowl that year.
Easy to forget when you’re praying to make a bowl.
Had Mizzou or WVU not choked in their last games, neither tOSU nor LSU are in the NCG.
Wil I know I can’t comment on your post, but this whole edumacation joke is pretty old and over used. I suggest something better like redneck incest swamp baby. And for someone who spells Wil with one L I’d retract all education guided insults to someone else. Especially someone who spells reward with an O instead of an A.
Now that all the pointless trash talking is over with let’s get to the matter at hand. Florida will make it to the NC game this year with one loss if they win the SEC championship game because we all know that game is the semi-finals.
Also, who is praying to barely make a bowl here? We just won the National Championship and you think we are praying to make a bowl? Laughable my friend, laughable. Seems your mind is even more one tracked than I thought. Expecting a scUM (haha i love using that. I can feel the desperation in it to feel superior than someone else, but since I’M A GATOR…..there is nothing you can say.)
and losing to Toledo (at home) and Applachain State?? you and your blue boys are a disgrace……..do us a favor and shut up.
And losing to us 41-14 so ya shut your mouth. Palm Beach is Gator bait. SEC SEC SEC!
Bait is something you throw to a gator so you can catch it and kill it. The ‘Gator is the loser as are you.
What team do you support? SEC University or SEC Tech?
How much do people want to bet that “SEC” decides his team allegiance based on who most recently won the SEC championship?
Its not hard to decide when Florida is that good. SEC SEC SEC! Best conference in the world, and you can’t argue with that!
I don’t know, the AFC East is going to be pretty solid this year if Brady stays healthy
20 bucks says SEC is a UC fan.
Don’t even try it. While tOSU has been blamed for the rep that Big Ten has as being down, the truth of the matter is losing to ASU at home gave the conference a much bigger black eye than the Buckeyes losing the NCG.
That whole season was an abomination. The national title winner had two losses. You can’t hold OSU’s 2007 schedule and a loss to Rose Bowl bound Illinois against them when pretty much every team ranked in the top 5 at some point suffered two losses. Michigan opened with a loss at home to 1AA App St. USC lost to Stanford at HOME, LSU lost to Kentucky. West Virginia lost to Pitt. 2007 does not equal 2009. OSU made it to the title game that year because no one else took care of business. If their is an absolute armageddon at the top of the polls again this year and Florida still makes it to the MNC then you can equate them to OSU 2007.
Second weakest, sadly the Big Ten’s own PSU has probably the weakest schedule of any top 25 team this year.
This is all nice as far as off-season silliness goes, but I’m gonna go ahead and throw some cold water on this idea – I think that the five things listed here are actually what LiC needs to do just to get a consolation invite to NY.
His being ranked fourth is probably more a function of factors like the predominance of QB winners lately, Ohio State’s gigantic media presence, etc. BUT: This is Colt’s year, unless either he or Texas steps on their dick in golf shoes – if the Longhorns are in Big 12 contention and receive any kind of BCS invite, he’s a lock, because he’s sure to be their best player and the stats will take care of themselves in that defense-less conference.
All this is not to say that I don’t BELIEVE that Terrelle can be one of the “best” players in the country this year, whatever that means – I think it’s pretty clear that he’s the “best” player in the Big Ten right now (by Heisman-type criteria anyway; overall I think Rejus Benn is #1A but he’s a receiver and plays for Illinois). Daryll Clark? – please. Did NOTHING last year against anybody that was any good ( let’s remember that he was totally ineffective, then concussed, in the Shoe – DEVLIN won that game).
Actually Mark Rubin won that game….but Clark did choke it against big teams
Pryor will get the NY invite, but no way he wins the Heisman without putting up a truly historical season. The powers that be already have their faves and outside of injury, pretty much have Florida and Texas/Oklahoma winner in the MNC. I think Colt McCoy takes it.
But, oh how I would love to see the mighty Gators have to go to Pasadena and play USC.
Yeah, I think I would actually vomit at the site of a Gator-Trojan game in Pasadena, CA.
they Do Not play Non-Conf. games out side of Florida.
Im just sayin SC woulda pasted their asses in Pasadena last year, I seriously dont think anyone can beat USC there outside of UCLA. Pete Carroll has lost 1 BCS game in his tenure at SC, hate all you want, but thats pretty friggin’ awesome.
If TP “wills” he way to win games and shows the leadership required to get past USC, Penn St and UM (away)…OSU goes undefeated…he will certainly have a legitimate shot at Heisman… that is the only way he beats out Tebow, McCoy or Bradford…..and remember all three of those teams do NOT get the TV power/draw that tOSU gets so if we go out and play like 2006 then TP gets a good shot!
This is not a bad posting, Alex. All points are valid. But #’s 1 and 5 are related, and should go underneath the same heading. That will free up a spot, and I would put the #1 thing for Pryor to win the Heisman Trophy is for his Offensive Line to show up week in and week out. Heisman winners will always tell you that they can’t win the Heisman without their teammates, and many of them specifically credit the offensive line for protecting them and giving them time to complete passes.
The Heisman goes to one guy, but it’s a team effort, and had our offensive line looked anything like USC’s, Florida’s, or Alabama’s, Todd Boeckman might have been a top 5 QB taken in last year’s draft, and they made him look like a Heisman contender in the Penn State game of 2007.
O’line will play big part….if they can hold off opposing D-lines and TP uses his legs enough to make the LB’s think he will be able to pick apart D on short and intermediate routes… his legs when he made a decision last year really helped spring the running game as well…I am really interested to see how he has matured in his decision making…a point made earlier was he took off too soon early in the year and waiting to long at the end…kinda like the 3 Bears…will TP doit “just right” this year… I am thinking he will… D will be flying around making sound tackles and some mistakes but that enthusiasm and youth will create havor and result in turnovers.
havoc
#1-#5 are all related…he can’t accomplish any of the feats without the others really…I agree the O-line MUST play better, but TP showed last year what he can do even with that awful line he had in front of him (because he is s athletic)……But the offensive line showing up is not what TERRELLE PRYOR can do to win the Heisman-it’s what his TEAM can do to help him
Make that the Mighty Gators vs Ohio St in the Rose. I like us as a dog in that game. This years Seniors remember 41 -14. I haven’t forgotten.
Colt McCoy will win the Heisman!
Actually all I want this season is a win over USCum and scUM. Not the time to start thinking about individual awards. It’s time to start thinking about shutting up the haters.
thank you… me too. After those 2 games, I will take whatever bowl comes!
I hope pryor just gets in championship. He’s like troy smith in his only complete year as a starter. We all no how that went. Bucks shut up the haters the year
SEC hearts 11W fo’ sure. That’s my 2cents. So does B.
It’ll be a long shot with Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy returning. Next year though…