Pryor’s decision-making better

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio State’s Darrell Hazell looks at the video and can only shake his head. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor looks off his first choice as a receiver, then scans the field for a second one.

ZING!

He flicks the ball to him for a first down.

“You’re watching him grow up day by day, game by game,” said Hazell, the Buckeyes’ assistant head coach in charge of receivers. “Look how comfortable he looks. He’s finding the checkdowns. That’s all about maturation and moving to being one of those great players. He’s going to be a phenomenal quarterback when it’s all said and done.”

Pryor, like most underclassmen at the position, used to be quick to bolt from the pocket. “Happy feet,” they call the desire to dance with the ball when feeling the pressure of a crowd of pass-rushers.

A gifted runner, it was as if Pryor used a covered primary receiver as an excuse to escape up the field.

No more. Now more of a quarterback than a running back, he’s feeling more at home when he’s surrounded by blockers.

“I’m very comfortable standing in the pocket,” he said. “I’m starting to really get a good trust in the linemen and the protection. I was very young last year and even my freshman year, so I obviously wasn’t going to really, really stand there.”

Illinois coach Ron Zook has noticed the change.

“You look at him now compared to as a freshman, he is a completely different player,” Zook said. “He had the same abilities and athleticism and so forth two years ago, but this year he’s different.”

Every quarterback has an internal clock. Take the snap, step back and the clock starts ticking. You look for that primary receiver and if he’s not open, the time keeps sifting away. As the pocket begins to close around you, it’s time to make a decision: Where’s that secondary receiver? Is he open? Instead of fight or flight, it’s time to gun it or run it.

“You hope they develop a little bit of a sensor in their head that, ‘Hey, I’ve been in here too long,”’ Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.

Pryor’s passed the ball 107 times this season, completing 66 percent for 10 touchdowns with only two interceptions and just five sacks.

“Basically you get through three or four progressions, the reads, and if it’s not there, then maybe you see an opening,” Pryor said of the formula he has in his head for how long to remain in the pocket. “That’s pretty much how I go about it, really.”

Tressel, a former college quarterback and longtime assistant coach in charge of QBs, appreciates how Pryor has grasped how much time he has to work with on passing plays.

“He’s progressing to developing that sensor pretty well,” Tressel said. “The more he is back there the better he’ll do.”

Pryor says that once you’ve faced situations like blitzes and collapsing pockets, it becomes that much easier to recognize them and react.

“Preparing and staying in the pocket, it’s all about maturity,” he said.