Lighting ’em up: Pryor provides punch for OSU « The Chronicle-Telegram

Lighting ’em up: Pryor provides punch for OSU

Filed by Chris Assenheimer September 3rd, 2010 in High School Sports, Sports.

COLUMBUS — Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor opened his Heisman Trophy candidacy Thursday night by proving again what he did in a Rose Bowl win over Oregon last year — that he has become much more than a running quarterback.

In a 45-7 victory over Marshall, Pryor showed he’s pretty fancy passing the ball as well.

Looking like he did in the signature Rose Bowl win, Pryor was plenty efficient, completing 17 of 25 attempts without an interception for 247 yards and three touchdowns.

“I thought Terrelle did some real good things,” said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. “I thought he had confidence in where he was going with the ball. I just thought his command and anticipation were pretty darn good.”

Though it came against suspect competition in Marshall, Pryor provided the first answer of the year to critics that question his passing ability. He didn’t display his running ability often because he didn’t have to.

The junior was on the mark on short passes, intermediate tosses and long throws, rarely misfiring.

“I felt comfortable,” Pryor said. “We’re such a close group. Our togetherness is magic.”

Pryor was in sync with nearly every one of his receivers, completing passes to eight different players.
He opened the game’s scoring by connecting with DeVier Posey from 6 yards out — the first of two TD tosses to Posey, then produced what was possibly his best throw of the night.

Marshall had just closed to within 14-7 with a little over two minutes left in the opening quarter when Pryor lofted a perfect pass to Dane Sanzenbacher, who got behind the Herd secondary for a 65-yard TD that answered Marshall’s score less than a minute later.

“We were just trying to get 4 or 5 yards and move the chains,” Pryor said. “Big plays just happen, but when they happen, they’re a lot of fun. Big plays get the crowd going.”

If a stellar season-opening performance is any indication, Pryor appears to have picked up where he left off last year against Oregon.

“That comes with maturity,” he said. “But I wouldn’t get too happy yet. Let’s see what happens next week (against Miami).”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.