Twitter role modelTerrelle Pryor was on hand as the honorary captain for the wrestling team's 21-14 victory over Penn State yesterday1 and the Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises caught up with him (more vids here, here and here) for his first interview since the Rose Bowl triumph.
What strikes me, when watching footage of the interview is how much better he's become at handling the media. The Tresselization is well under way and you can tell he's learned from earlier gaffes. Take this completely deferential response when he was asked whether the offense might resemble more of what we saw in the Rose Bowl as opposed to what we saw during the Big Ten stretch run:
"I think so. Me and Coach Tress, I've got to keep gaining his trust and working my butt off and leading this group. I don't blame Coach Tressel. I was a young kid and just trying to fit in the offense well and [we were] keeping it balanced as much as we can and running the ball a little bit more."
Other nuggets:
- He plans to work the hell out of the team as more of a leader.
- His knee is still sore. And "horse pills" don't help.
- He appears to be one of the few Buckeye football players that's familiar with how Twitter works.
Speaking of Rose Bowl quarterbacks, Pryor's opponent that night could be in a bit of trouble. Word leaked early Sunday that Jeremiah Masoli and little used receiver Garrett Embry were named in a police report filed for theft at a fraternity house in Eugune. The Register Guard is treading a bit lighter, leaving the players unnamed in a story on the incident, though they did get the AD on record as saying the report was "unsubstantiated."
Oregon, with Masoli joining 18 other returning starters, is set to appear in everybody's top five next season, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict a return trip to a BCS game would not be in the cards should anything come of this.
Eight More Days of Selling
While the Hicks, Henderson et al wait drags on, Tressel has been working other angles, like hitting up Morgan Moses and visiting Chaz Green. Moses looks more and more Buckeye bound every day, while Green would probably be a longshot, but the effort reflects on the crazy landscape of this recruiting season. Two major coaching changes and a leave of absense, but not really have shaken things up to the point of you really don't know how solid a verbal is until the papers start rolling in on February 3rd.
Perhaps no Buckeye commit has fans as stressed as Florida wide receiver James Louis. In July, he got sick of Urban giving him the runaround and became the 10th member of the class soon thereafter promising fans a national championship. That will be difficult to pull off if he switches to the Gators, back again to hard-sell Louis. Our advice? Head to Gainesville if you want to become the type of clutch player that fumbles the NFC Championship away. Otherwise, see in you Columbus.
Also comes in BoomSpeaking of Selling...
After many, many months agonizing over Spreadshirt's awkward interface, artwork limits and... ahem... the fact that it's a European company, we made the move and opened up a new shop at Columbus' own Skreened. All of your favorites were migrated over and there are a few new designs as well, so if you're looking for a cool new t-shirt, you can support 11W with all of the money flowing into the 614.
BRIEFLY: Cordle saw time at center in the East West Shrine Game Saturday, but Worthington earned some highlight video love for his sack... Jared Sullinger v. DeShaun Thomas got all of the hype, but future Buckeye running back Rod Smith had the first crack at Thomas, registering seven points and 12 rebounds Friday night... Bret Bielema got another year. I have to give credit where due because I thought he was well on his way to wrecking everything Alvarez had built up, but he really turned things around. After dropping his first four Big Ten games in 2008 on the way to a 7-6 mark, his Badgers finished 10-3 this season with a big bowl win over Miami.
- 1 Huge win. Ohio and Pennsylvania produce far and away the best wrestling talent in the United States. The Nitts had a boner for new coach Cael Sanderson, who did fine work with Iowa State, but we have a good one of our own in Tom Ryan. This series could soon grow into a nice little rivalry.
