So, Now What?

In case you just woke up from a 70 year sleep under a rock, Terrelle Pryor signed his letter of intent to play football for The Ohio State University Buckeyes. Awesome, Rivals and Scout say he’s the #1 recruit in the nation while ESPN “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” chooses to put him at #6. Jokes on them since recruiting numbers don’t really matter, but you have to like the chances of a 6’6” 230lb athlete that runs a 4.4 forty yard dash.

So what now? The Buckeyes currently have 3 QBs on the roster (2 scholarship) with Todd Boeckman, Antonio Henton, and Joe Bauserman (walk on). Luckily, Robbie Schoenhoft took his rocket arm to Delaware, though it was expected that he would be suiting up as TE rather than QB.

What does this mean to…

Todd Boeckman?

Nothing. In fact, Todd Boeckman should be thankful that Pryor chose Ohio State. Let me repeat, Todd is not in danger of losing his starting spot to Pryor and should be more worried about Antonio Henton (not that it will happen). More than anything, Boeckman now has another weapon to utilize in addition to the NC game runner up (aka loser). It adds another dimension to offense, and lets not think for a second that Tressel would hand the reigns to a freshman over a 6^th year senior who will be in grad school. Ain’t happening.

Antonio Henton?

Now this is a little tricky. We keep hearing about how Henton was coming on through the year (after his sticky situation with CPD) and had passed Schoenhoft for the backup spot. The truth is, we haven’t seen him play football since the beginning of the 2007 season and didn’t play (although he was rumored to) in the National Championship game. Mark this down: Antonio Henton will be the backup quarterback at Ohio State. But wait Poe, isn’t Terrelle Pryor supposed to be super recruit? Ah yes, read below. As for Henton, if Boeckman goes down or pulls a Jimmy Clausen, Henton and not Pryor would be the leader of the Buckeyes.

Terrelle Pryor?

Wise move, young man. He weighed his options and apparently made the right choice. So where do you play the stud recruit. Maurice Clarett didn’t redshirt, nor did Ted Ginn, nor Beanie Wells, but Justin Zwick did. I wouldn’t rule out a RS, but I would highly doubt it. Terrelle Pryor will be called QB backup ‘a’. What? Why ‘a’, and not 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd? With all the talk about a Tim Tebow like role at OSU, Pryor could end up with more playing time than Henton. Boeckman-1 Henton-2 Pryor-A. It doesn’t make sense, I know. Pryor will not be asked to run the offense, but will be asked to create a spark anytime he is thrown in the ballgame to pass or rush. Pryor may be called upon at any time during a game, while we most likely won’t see Henton until the 4^th quarter. My belief is that Pryor will in fact see more playing time than Henton, while being the third in charge to RUN the offense. Pryor is too good of an athlete to keep of the field for an entire game, and until defenses figure him out, there is no reason to not use him as at least a distraction.

Confusing, I know. But it better not be confusing for…

Jim Tressel.

That’s right, I said it. I don’t want Pryor playing INSTEAD of Boeckman or Henton, but he better be out there contributing when he can. The biggest complaint heard around Buckeye Nation is the lack of creativity on the offensive side of the ball. Jim, you don’t have to listen to them 99% of the time. It works, we know. But when you need to show something different, do it. Buckeye Nation watched the 2007 National Championship game and wanted to see a reverse, wanted to see Henton come in for a couple plays, wanted to see Jer’male Hines come in at RB. Anything. We got a bootleg to Saine, and that was it. Good news, it worked. Bad news, that was it. I expect Boeckman and Henton to run the offense, and I expect Pryor to run a middle screen to Saine for a 25 yard TD with 10 minutes remaining in the 2^nd Quarter of the USC game. Why? Why not.