A r/CFB thread today asks "Who is the biggest traitor to your program?" For whatever reason, some Ohio State fans have replaced the obvious answer of Bo Schembechler with Terrelle Pryor.
Ironically, Terrelle Pryor was something often confused with traitor; he was a trader. He traded his alien athletic ability and memorabilia for free and discounted tattoos. According to former Ohio State Buckeye Antonio Pittman, Pryor was far from the first Ohio State player to do this.
There is nothing wrong with this outside of the NCAA's inane, arbitrarily-enforced rulebook.
Had Jim Tressel used anything besides his school-issued email address, Terrelle Pryor would've shattered all OSU quarterbacking records. He didn't, however, and the Tressel era deteriorated pretty quickly from there.
Pryor, like Tressel, fell on his sword for the good of the university. Only the most naive Ohio State fans believe Pryor couldn't have burned Ohio State to the ground by simply picking up a phone and dialing the NCAA or any other national media outlet who would've loved to drive a knife into the gut of the historic program.
No, despite being dissociated from the university while his old coach was getting honored in Ohio Stadium, Terrelle Pryor never sold the university out.
The young man never won a national title at Ohio State, but he did bring Columbus two BCS bowl victories, including one over an SEC team. (Sorry, NCAA, the streets still remember who won the 2011 Sugar Bowl).
And after suffering through a 6-7 season due to Tatgate fallout, Ohio State hired Urban Meyer. Without Pryor (or the Tat Five in general), Urban Meyer would likely be coaching somewhere else right now. (81% of 11W readers polled said if given the chance, they wouldn't replace Urban Meyer with Jim Tresssel.)
Was Pryor perfect at Ohio State? Hardly, but he was far from a traitor.
