For a guy who came into the league with the attention and flare of Terrell Owens, Terrelle Pryor’s rookie year in the NFL amounted to a false start.
The former Ohio State quarterback entered the league late through the supplemental draft, served a five-game suspension for infractions from college and then got on the field for only one aborted play for the Oakland Raiders last season.
That’s why this offseason has been so crucial for Pryor, who is finally getting the professional coaching and practice time he sorely missed during his rookie year.
“I didn’t know anything last year, nothing at all,” Pryor said. “I knew some of the stuff going into games and stuff like that, but not like starting from Day 1 here right now when the new coaches came in. On the other hand, I came in last year at the end of camp and everything was already put in. I couldn’t ask the coach, the offensive coordinator. We didn’t even have a quarterbacks coach, so I couldn’t even learn anything from that standpoint.” From Pryor’s interview with the Columbus-Dispatch.
Pryor got very little out of a rookie season that was doomed from the start. He didn’t decide to leave Ohio State until after the NFL draft following an investigation into the team’s memorabilia-for-cash scandal, which cost coach Jim Tressel his job.
Commissioner Roger Goodell allowed Pryor into the supplemental draft but ruled he must serve the five-game suspension he would have faced in college. The Raiders used a third-round pick on Aug. 22 to select Pryor, making him the final player drafted by late owner Al Davis.
Pryor said Davis would call him a couple of times a week before his death in October, reminding Pryor that he believed in him. While Pryor is currently battling Matt Leinart for the job backing up Carson Palmer, he hopes to one day prove Davis right.
