Terrelle Pryor, Rodney Gallagher sit down and chat on YouTube show

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020 | 7:05 PM

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Picture this.

WPIAL generational talent Terrelle Pryor and young Rodney Gallagher, a fast-rising athlete of growing reputation, eye-to-eye in a barber shop setting, discussing the nuances of being dual-sport athletes, the pressures of staying at their hometown schools, what it’s like to lose a parent and how to maintain focus when everyone is watching.

One person who has been through the nirvana of stardom and another who is just stepping into it.

Tim Tyree did more than picture it. He made that scene a reality with his new social media show, “The LineUp,” which airs on YouTube.

Episode 1 Out Now‼️????????https://t.co/5NpvLG2eft

— Coach Tyree ™ (@Mr_TimmyT) September 2, 2020

“We wanted to make something that local athletes could connect with here,” Tyree said. “I love kids to death and I want to be able to help them in any way I can. I thought it would be cool to get Terrelle and Rod together. It was nice to have the stars align.”

Tyree, a former Monessen standout athlete himself who played against Pryor in high school and has kept up with him, and coaches Gallagher in Wildcats Select AAU, moderates a candid discussion while Pryor gets his hair cut and Gallagher looks on.

The show, a smaller-scale version of HBO’s “The Shop,” which features NBA star LeBron James and other celebrities conversing and debating about current events and hot-button topics in a barber shop, is 27 minutes of enlightening dialogue.

It’s a WPIAL star of the past relating to one in its future.

Pryor, the 30-year-old former Jeannette and Ohio State star who currently is a pro football free agent, offers advice to Gallagher, the up-and-coming 15-year-old standout at Laurel Highlands.

Like Pryor, Gallagher is a basketball and football talent who is getting top-level college attention and scholarship offers from Power 5 schools.

Pryor was the No. 1 football recruit in the country coming out of Jeannette. He had dozens of offers in both sports.

“We played them in a playoff game in basketball my junior year,” Tyree said of Pryor. “He had a crazy triple-double against us. He was an incredible talent.”

After Ohio State, Pryor played with eight NFL teams in nine years, most recently the Jacksonville Jaguars last fall. Injuries have slowed the progress of the gifted quarterback-turned-wide receiver but he hopes to land with a team before the season.

Gallagher, who helped lead Laurel Highlands to a WPIAL basketball title as a freshman, already has football offers from Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia and Michigan, among others, while Pitt is one of his suitors in basketball. He is expected to move to quarterback from wide receiver this fall.

“Rod is very mature for his age,” Tyree said. “There really hasn’t been an athlete like him since Terrelle.”

The show is filmed at a makeshift barber shop in a Pittsburgh condo. Eric Diggs, who operates CutzbyLito, a mobile hair-cutting business, works the razor and scissors during the interviews.

Tyree hopes the pilot episode will attract an audience and positive feedback and lead to future shows with different athletes and personalities.

“We’re hoping to make it a three-part series,” he said. “With football season happening and getting ready to start, we figured the time to drop it was now.”

Tyree, who studied communications at Cal U, and business partner Kevin Parker, his former assistant coach, put the wheels in motion to turn an idea into a web show.

The LineUp is produced by Carlin Ford, a Point Park student who works in variation media with basketball outlets Overtime and Slam HS, and Logan Douglas, who has created highlight videos and graphics for area athletes and teams with SWNGMN Media.

Pryor opens up about how he almost went to basketball power Oak Hill Academy in Virginia when he was a sophomore at Jeannette — before then-Jeannette football coach Ray Reitz helped to open doors for him in another sport.

What a seminal moment that first football conversation was for Pryor.

The wide-eyed and attentive Gallagher, who clearly is impressed by Pryor’s words, in turn talks about the repeated rumors of his impending departure from Laurel Highlands, possibly to play with his friend, Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, in California.

“I am hoping I can fill your shoes,” Gallagher says to Pryor.

Pryor said, “You’ve got a great head on your shoulders. I urge you to keep on making great decisions.”

The pair also talks about losing parents at a young age and how they have dealt with the hardship. Pryor lost his father, Gallagher his mother.

The LineUp Exclusive Interview dropping tonight 8pm TPxRG‼️ pic.twitter.com/fVFwPRJOzx

— Coach Tyree ™ (@Mr_TimmyT) September 1, 2020

Appreciate everything that you told me and opportunity ????????@TerrellePryor pic.twitter.com/pZi3drMRna

— Rodney Gallagher (@RodneyGallaghe6) August 8, 2020

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Jeannette, Laurel Highlands, Monessen