Joe Paterno talked about Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor at his weekly press conference yesterday and had a lot of good things to say about the junior who spurned Penn State during his recruitment process in the spring of 2008.
"He's older," Paterno said. "He's more mature. He's more polished. And so all those little things that you would expect an athlete as good as he is and as conscientious as he is, you'd expect him to get better and that's what Pryor's done. He's a good kid. He really handles himself well.
"He's all business. He's not out there trying to outdo anybody. He's just out there trying to get his football team to win. He's the kind of guy a coach likes to see have success.
"I don't want him to have too much this week, but he's been good. And he's getting better all the time."
Penn State has had some success containing Pryor in his first two years, limiting him to 351 yards passing and 56 yards rushing in two games. Last season, Pryor completed only eight passes for 125 yards on the Penn State defense, but threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score in a 24-7 Ohio State win.
This year, the Lions will look to force Pryor into turnovers as they did on their last trip to Columbus when Pryor lost a costly fumble in the second half and threw a game-sealing interception late in the game to give Penn State the victory. As 17-point underdogs, Ohio State mistakes will be key.