Terrelle Pryor announced through his attorney Tuesday that he is leaving Ohio State to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft. It’s a decision most people could have seen coming when Pryor was spotted driving in a relatively flashy car, with a reported suspended license, while his school was under investigation. If that’s not the epitome of “I don’t give a f***” then I don’t know what is.
Though Pryor is leaving school to pursue professional football, it’s not as if he’s leaving his problems behind; he’s now facing accusations that he was paid thousands of dollars to autograph memorabilia.
A former friend of Pryor tells Outside the Lines that the quarterback made thousands of dollars signing memorabilia for an Ohio man. “The signings for cash, which would be a violation of NCAA rules, occurred a minimum of 35 to 40 times, netting Pryor anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 that year,” the former friend told ESPN.
Sports by Brooks adds to the report, saying Pryor deposited multiple checks from Dennis Talbott, the Ohio man/memorabilia dealer in question. Brooks points us to Talbott’s eBay seller’s account which is called “infickellwetrust,” which is a reference to Ohio State’s new football coach. Talbott operates a store on eBay called “ntresselwetrust” and it has hundreds of autographed items available — most of which are from athletes in Ohio.
Given the amount of spelling errors on his eBay store, it’s no surprise he’s getting caught now. Some of the misspellings include “Shaq O’Neil, Cris Cater, Rafael Frucal, D’Angelo Jimeniz.” His store also has memorabilia from some of the most obscure former baseball players, leading one to conclude he’s paying clubhouse attendants money for this stuff. Brooks also says Ohio State knew about Talbott and ordered him to disassociate with the program — another sign Terrelle Pryor was associating with poor company, just like the tattoo parlor problems.
Pryor would have been facing a five-game suspension had he stayed in school, but with the NCAA investigation, it’s probably wise to move on. As far as his football development goes, he could have used the half-season in college, but now he’s going to enter the supplemental draft. Pryor didn’t impress me in college and I don’t expect anything from him in the pros. Ultimately, he was an extremely high profile recruit who, along with Jim Tressel, was one of the centerpieces in the scandal that has Ohio State in trouble.
