Despite Pryor’s presence, Graham thinks his style is good fit at OSU

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Last month, Taylor Graham barely had the words, ‘I’ve committed to Ohio State,’ out of his mouth when an obvious question arose: Why would a quarterback who bears little physical resemblance to Terrelle Pryor pick Ohio State?

The point being, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Graham — a rising senior at North High School in Wheaton, Ill., and son of former OSU and pro quarterback Kent Graham — was born to be a pro-style, drop-back quarterback, just like his dad. Whereas Pryor is a 6-foot-6, 235-pound speedy anomaly, the likes of which Ohio State has never had at QB.

Graham is not the next Pryor. But he laughed when asked why he’d chosen a college team that, for now anyway, has cast its lot with a running-throwing quarterback that seems to defy the pro-style ethos.

“I wouldn’t categorize myself as an option quarterback, but I wouldn’t categorize Ohio State’s offense that way, either,” Graham said. “They run a pro-style offense, and coach [Jim] Tressel told me that one of the reasons why Terrelle wanted to come to Ohio State was because they ran a pro-style system, and he wanted to be that type of quarterback.

“I really think he is. I think he is going to be a great quarterback. And I want to be the next guy in line to keep that going.”

Pryor is preparing for his sophomore season after earning the starting job as a freshman. But as Ohio State coaches continue the search for future talent, they aren’t looking for the next Pryor, though his presence does skew the effort.

“One of the questions every guy asks, not just quarterbacks, is, ‘Why, if you’ve got a guy like this, are you looking at me?’ I’m not just like that,’’ said Tressel, who by NCAA rules can’t speak about specific recruits who have not signed a national letter of intent. “I guess you never say to a recruit, ‘Well, there isn’t anyone else like that.’

‘But the thing I will say about quarterbacks is in 22 years we have been to nine national championship games [six at Youngstown State, three at Ohio State] with eight different quarterbacks. So the only thing I’ll pledge to a quarterback is: We’re going to do what you do and what your partners do.”