Terrelle Pryor's Ohio State career began with a glitzy press conference following one of the most publicized recruiting battles in recent memory. Today, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, it ends with a statement by the quarterback's attorney announcing he won't return to the Buckeyes in the fall following his suspension in the winter for NCAA violations and subsequent resignation of his coach, Jim Tressel.
From the Penn State perspective, it's really a bittersweet moment. Pryor, of course, picked over the Nittany Lions by calling Happy Valley "too country" and went on to win two of the three games he started against Penn State. Watching his career die in a scandal of his own making probably leaves many feeling vindicated at the least.
However, as Ohio State fans have scapegoated the quarterback for bringing about the end of the Tressel era at Ohio State, it's hard not to feel for the kid. After all, he's just another cog in the cheating machine that is Buckeye football. His actions didn't sully an otherwise pristine reputation, they only exposed Ohio State and Tressel for the massive frauds they are. Despite all that, Buckeye fans are rallying on the doorstep of their nationally disgraced coach as if he were a martyr while repudiating the quarterback.
No doubt, Pryor was an ignorant man at Ohio State and he deserves loads of criticism. His legacy, though, will not be his own ignorance, but the exposing the ignorance of a coach, an institution, and a fan base that has become the laughingstock of the Big Ten and the nation.