Terrelle Pryor’s rim-rattling, gym-packing hoops career won’t soon be forgotten

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, April 24, 2020 | 4:39 PM

2585326_web1_gtr-Pryor-042520 — Louis B. Ruediger | Tribune-Review

Jeannette standout Terrelle Pryor dunks during a 2007 WPIAL playoff game against Shady Side Academy.

While he fully intends to play in the NFL next season, Terrelle Pryor, only half-jokingly, said if his pro football career winds down soon he’ll consider getting in touch with some NBA G League teams to see about a tryout.

He can still dunk a basketball effortlessly and can shoot it with similar ease.

“I still think about what might have happened,” Pryor said about the football-or-basketball Y in the road he faced coming out of Jeannette 12 years ago. “I still think I could play. I always loved basketball.”

Many of today’s young fans have only heard about Pryor’s basketball ability. Those who followed Pryor at the time say he was just as good on the court as he was on the football field.

He was rated No. 39 in the Class of 2008 by ESPN, ahead of the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson. Not many athletes find themselves nationally ranked in two sports.

Terrelle Pryor had serious hoop game where he was ranked #39 on the 2008 ESPN100 high school basketball rankings.

(????: @Hoopmixtape) pic.twitter.com/Z5w52F60eo

— ThrowbackHoops (@ThrowbackHoops) April 23, 2020

But Pryor chose football and it took him to great heights. He was the No. 1 recruit in the nation coming out of high school and he had a stellar career at Ohio State.

He has bounced around the NFL for the last eight years, transforming his game along the way as he went from a dual-threat quarterback to a wide receiver.

Pryor, 30, is a free agent now and hopes to get some interest from teams after the NFL Draft, perhaps in the way of a “flex tight end,” a position about which he said some teams have inquired.

Dual-sport stars made headlines in recent days when Laurel Highlands freshman Rodney Gallagher received scholarship offers in basketball and football from several top programs last week and Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs III wowed viewers with his basketball highlight reel after being chosen in the first round of the draft by the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday night.

On the court, Pryor was a 6-foot-6 force who could handle the ball, drive to the rim and knock down soft jumpers from the perimeter.

But his dunks, those rim-rocking dunks, were what the fans wanted to see. His coaches and teammates saw much more, though, in the athletically gifted senior.

“I don’t think people realize how great of an overall player he was,” said Jim Nesser, who coached Pryor at Jeannette. “Selfless. Great passer. And a leader. A lot more intangibles then people know. He would do whatever it took to win.”

Pryor had numerous Power 5 offers to play basketball and even committed verbally to Pitt as a sophomore. That was before his football endeavors hit another gear.

Heading into the 2007-08 season, many of Jeannette’s opponents had ticket pre-sales well ahead of Pryor visiting their gym.

Apollo-Ridge sold out weeks before a section game only to find out Pryor would not play that particular night because he was recovering from a long football season.

As a senior, Pryor led Jeannette’s high-scoring football team to a 16-0 record, a WPIAL Class AA title and the school’s first PIAA title. Not long after, the basketball team finished 25-4 and won WPIAL and PIAA Class AA titles.

Pryor put on a show in the state final against Strawberry Mansion at Penn State with 23 points, eight rebounds, five blocks, four assists and four steals in a 76-72 win in overtime.

“If he would of focused on hoops, I think he could have been what they call a point-forward,” Nesser said. “I think he could have been in the NBA.”

With 2,285 career points, Pryor ranks eighth all-time on the WPIAL scoring list.