Terrelle Pryor picks Ohio State
Michigan, OSU recruiting war highlights rivalry
The battle for Terrelle Pryor, and the reaction to his decision, offers another glimpse at the intensity of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry.
If incoming University of Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez wasn't in tune with the rivalry he's inherited as the face of the Wolverines, he's learning quickly.
Without having set foot on the sideline in Ann Arbor on a Saturday afternoon, Rodriguez already suffered his first loss to rival Ohio State when highly touted high school recruit Terrelle Pryor announced Wednesday that he'll play his college ball in Columbus.
How badly this loss really hurts won't be clear for another two or three years. From a PR standpoint, it's a bit of a sting to a man whose first few months in Ann Arbor have been bumpy, at best.
Pryor's announcement came as little surprise to many, and in fact was what was commonly predicted leading up to National Signing Day earlier this winter. Instead, Pryor announced then that he needed more time to decide on a college, spent the last number of weeks finishing his high school basketball career, and essentially left at least two programs fully wondering about the immediate future of the most important position on their teams.
Whether Pryor himself is to blame for directing the off-season soap opera, or if perhaps certain adults in his inner-circle are more at fault, is anybody's guess. Pryor, since making his announcement earlier this week, seems genuine in his claim that this was no easy decision to make.
Very quickly, the focus of this story in the Michigan media has flipped from Pryor's indecision to how OSU coach Jim Tressel out-recruited Rodriguez. Out-recruited might be too strong a phrase, but there's no question that in his first head-to-head battle with the Buckeyes, Rodriguez comes away on the short end. The volume with which that news is being spread should be enlightening to Rodriguez with regards to the intensity of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. Had Pryor chosen Oregon, or even Big 10 foe Penn State, two schools he was also reportedly considering, this story would resonate much differently.
Wolverine fans, meantime, seem split into two groups concerning the Terrelle Pryor saga. There are those in the aforementioned group, who see it as Rodriguez getting out-recruited.
And there are those who, even ahead of Pryor's announcement, had written him off as a prima donna not worthy of wearing the Block M. Many took the occasion to declare inanely, "I hope he doesn't pick Michigan. He's a media whore; we don't need him!"
Clearly, such sentiment wasn't shared by Rodriguez and his staff, who stayed after Pryor until the very end. For the sake of Wolverines, those Michigan fans better hope they're right about not needing him.
