Terrelle Pryor had a bizarre college football career at Ohio State. He appeared in 39 games over three seasons, playing at an extremely high level at times, but Pryor is now best known for his banishment from Columbus as part of an NCAA probe in 2011. In addition, Pryor's NFL career has not gone as smoothly as anyone would have hoped, though the 6-foot-4, 225-pound super athlete is now playing wide receiver full-time for the nearby Cleveland Browns.
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With his new occupation, Pryor and his Cleveland teammates took the field for a practice in the home of the Buckeyes, Ohio Stadium, on Saturday and it was an interesting homecoming for Pryor in a number of ways. Chief among them, though, is that he was actually allowed to be there.
Pryor's five-year NCAA ban came to an end in late July, and Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com caught up with Pryor at the scene of his college career. Among other things discussed was Pryor defending Ohio State's locker room to his NFL teammates:
"A lot of guys on my team go in the locker room and they expect it to be nicer. I said, 'Man, this is tradition. Your schools have all the Nike on the walls probably. We don't have to recruit like that. I stick up for my school. It's great to be back. It's a beautiful stadium."
More importantly, though, the piece indicates that Pryor paid homage to the Ohio State faithful in attendance, and even fraternized with some of the current coaching staff. The lasting takeaway is that Pryor expressed an interest in returning in a more Ohio State-laden capacity, and it will be interesting to see how the former number one overall recruit is received.
The Terrelle Pryor era did not go perfectly in Columbus, but he was really good and, now, he is within his rights to return to campus.
