Was Pryor really injured for Texas?Shortly after the Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas, rumors began sprouting up about Pryor possibly having an injured shoulder for the game. After all, how else to explain the all of the ducks and the times he ran out of bounds early to avoid contact.
Though we heard most of the same tales that you did (he sprained his shoulder in bowl practice, he had a bad wrist, etc.) we never ran anything because, well, it was never verified.
Then, three weeks ago, theclevelandfan.com ran a story saying Pryor was quoted after the game saying the injury "was pretty bad" and that the shoulder was injured because he had "rolled it". Curiously, these quotes were never attributed to anyone as their entire article was link-free save for a few on their game recap. Regardless, a couple of other big players ran with this and soon the Pryor shoulder injury rumor was gospel.
Not so fast, says the Dispatch's Bob Hunter:
OSU quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels squashed rumors that Terrelle Pryor had an injured shoulder during the Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas. The rumors were rampant on Internet message boards, and some even reported that Pryor had been quoted as saying he tweaked the shoulder during the game.
The whispers apparently were based in part of some poor Pryor passes and a couple of plays in which he ran out of bounds rather than turn upfield to gain a few more yards. But Daniels said this week that Pryor's shoulder was never injured.
Now, Hunter has been wrong before, but getting the info from Joe Daniels seems pretty reliable. Why wouldn't the staff feel free to disclose that fact now? They don't play a game until the shoulder will be in good shape, so it's not like they'd have to worry about tipping a team off.
But is that the case? The evidence on film seems to indicate that something was wrong. Is there any truth to the notion that his shoulder was taped in the game, causing his jersey to hang unevenly, like theclevelandfan.com said?
After reviewing tape, I didn't see anything funny with his jersey, but I'm still kind of having a hard time believing the same guy that made such a jump throwing the ball after a bye-week would regress so much with the 50+ days to prepare for the Fiesta Bowl.
What do you think?
