The Visible Growth of Terrelle Pryor

While Terrelle Pryor's statistical line was impressive Thursday night against Marshall, I was more impressed by the physical and mental maturity that was shown. A maturity that is easy to view as an extension of his Rose Bowl performance, but is perhaps more. So let's go through, in chronological order, some key moments where Terrelle Pryor's growth was evident.

5-step drop, Backside Hitch

This play is impressive on two accounts. One, DeVier Posey did a fantastic job creating space for himself with his route running. By releasing to the outside initially, he flipped the defensive back's body away from the quarterback, and then closed the space between the two to force the defensive back to come to a quick halt. This created an opening on the outside for Pryor to throw to.

The second impressive part of the play was Pryor's understanding of leverage. Marshall's defensive back had inside leverage, so Pryor threw away from him to the space that was created by Posey's route. A very simple but difficult adjustment to make between the quarterback and wide receiver.

25 Yard Intermediate Post

Another great route running job done by a receiver; this time it's Dane Sanzenbacher. He bent the route outside to widen the safeties and create room for himself down the middle of the field.

Terrelle Pryor's physical growth is probably most evident in this play. He threw a 25-ish yard post route, just over the linebackers and just underneath the safety. His ability to make that specific throw  -and not a loop, or laser to a linebacker- is an improvement over the Rose Bowl Terrelle Pryor. In that game, he did not make many, or any, intermediate throws like this.

Flare out to Boom Herron

This may seem like an odd inclusion, but it was a very positive sign of maturity. Not only did Pryor make the correct decision in throwing the flare route to Herron, but he did it quickly. The rapidity of correct reads is important in a passing game, and TP's quick check-down to the running back in this situation is indicative of increasing comfort within the offense. He trusted his eyes and made a quick decision with an accurate throw.

Boom also did a nice job by side-stepping the Marshall defensive back and picking up the first down. Two individuals making great plays- one understated and one obvious- led to a first down against a perfectly placed defense.

Conclusion

There were plenty of flashier plays made by Terrelle Pryor in this game, but these three plays each signaled something specific to me when viewing them. Ohio State has shown a commitment to incorporating a legitimate 3-step, 5-step, and 7-step passing game from under center, and to do this, it's imperative that the quarterback understand timing and how it correlates to footwork and precision. So too is the ability to throw intermediate routes down the seam, and make quick decisions. Within each of these plays, Pryor demonstrated an overall command that was not seen in previous years, even in the success of the Rose Bowl last season.