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Football
Injured Knee Kept Pryor from Throwing on Run
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS — As the pocket collapsed around him Tuesday, Terrelle Pryor avoided two tacklers, slipped out of trouble and rolled to his right. The defense was ready for him, and they had a linebacker waiting in the flat, but that didn’t faze Pryor. Instead he lofted a perfectly thrown pass between two defenders and into the arms of wideout DeVier Posey. In short, Pryor was at his best. This was a thing of beauty, and it was a pass he couldn’t make down the stretch last season.

“When I injured my knee against New Mexico State there was a lot of pain,” said Pryor, who tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last October.

Terrelle Pryor
Photo by Dan Harker

“It held me back sometimes from escaping and getting out of the pocket. Some throws I couldn't make off the run and stuff like that. It limited me in a way.”

After throwing the ball nearly 22 times in Aug. and Sept. and 24 times in the month of Oct., Pryor was limited to just 17 attempts per game in the three contests after the injury, which occurred in a relatively meaningless win over New Mexico State in week nine.

“There was a lot of pain,” said Pryor, who also injured his ankle during that same game, likely on the same play. 

“Sometimes I had to take some pills to take some pain away before I stepped onto the field. I was here for the seniors and I was trying to get wins.”

He did that. Despite the injury to their star quarterback, the Buckeyes went on to win their final six games of the 2009 season, including that 45-0 win over NMSU. Hobbled but not broken, Pryor went into Happy Valley the following Saturday and did something he failed to do in Columbus as a freshman: beat his hometown Nittany Lions.

Although Pryor completed only eight passes and ran the ball just five times, the Buckeyes won in convincing fashion, 24-7, thanks in large part to a 62-yard touchdown pass from Pryor to Posey late in the third quarter.

“Tearing a PCL is nothing devastating that could hold you back from not playing,” Pryor said.

“There was nothing hold me back anyway, regardless of what happened I was going to try to be in the game regardless of it. It hurt pretty good and it was sore.”

There was no time to rest, however, as No. 11-ranked Iowa came calling the next week. Pryor had the most efficient passing game of his career, completing 14 of his 17 passes, but for a total of just 93 yards as the Buckeyes needed a 39-yard field goal from Devin Barclay in overtime to keep their Rose Bowl hopes alive.

Ohio State beat archrival Michigan 21-10 to close out the regular season and Pryor had his best rushing game of the month. He racked up 74 yards on the ground, but it took him 19 carries, his second-most of the season behind his 21-carry game against Purdue.

“I couldn't run,” said Pryor, who ran for just 153 yards in Nov. after racking up 319 yards on the ground in the previous month.

“There were a couple of games where I couldn't run because every time I cut it felt like my leg would just give.”

Today Pryor feels like a new man. After throwing the ball a career-high 37 times against Oregon in Pasadena, Pryor underwent knee surgery to repair his torn PCL in the off-season. He still wears a brace, and likely will all season for precautionary measures, but he has regain his mobility, and just as importantly, he has regained his ability to make throws like the one he made to Posey on Tuesday.

“I really feel like a quarterback. I feel like I can be a complete quarterback, but I can also run the ball,” said Pryor, who enters his third season as the starting quarterback at Ohio State.

“It's going to be interesting, just how much smarter I am and how much I grew. It's going to be an interesting year for me.”

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