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Don't say you didn't see this one coming. Terrelle Pryor's appearance on the front page of the Dispatch sports section the other day, accompanied by a photo of his shirtless body and a reference to the "six pack" he carries around, is only the beginning of what is sure to be a media onslaught unlike anything seen around here since Maurice Clarett thought it was a good idea to start carrying guns. (perhaps ironically, Pryor's wikipedia page lists his OSU major as "criminology")

As the Buckeyes prepare for what everyone (national media included) expects to be another run at the national championship (sorry SEC fan), it will be interesting to watch how well Pryor handles all the attention he's going to get, but perhaps even more interesting will be to watch the response of his teammates, especially the upperclassmen.

Because Pryor needs to immediately start positioning himself as a leader on the team, how well he does on the media playing field may be just as important as how he does on the real playing field. If he appears to enjoy all the attention too much, or is seen as encouraging it in some way, many of his fellow players will start to lose some respect for Terrelle, and getting it back will be a much harder process and could be injurious to team chemistry.

By all accounts so far Pryor appears to be an intelligent and hard working player, and is already fairly experienced with the media because of his larger than life high school career, so there's good reason to believe that he will be able to handle what's about to come his way. For the sake of the legions of Buckeye fans anxious to finally defeat an SEC team in a bowl game, let's hope that's the case.

But he is only 18 years old and is about to experience attention (both good and bad) being heaped on him a few levels above what even he's used to. I'm sure Tressel will do his best to keep him secluded (read: protected) from the media as much as possible, but especially if Pryor is able to get in a few early games and make a couple of big plays it will be impossible to shelter him completely. And try to imagine the media onslaught that would take place if Pryor does something truly extraordinary like run for the winning touchdown in the 4th quarter of the USC game on September 13, not that unlikely of a possibility if you believe reports that OSU coaches are putting in a few special plays "just for Terrelle".

If something like that does happen, and Pryor's star rises sooner than expected, it will be impossible to keep the lid on Terrelle-O-Mania, and even Tressel's calm public demeanor may be put to a test. What all that would mean for the prospects of team success on the field can't be predicted, but one thing is for sure: if you thought the attention that Maurice Clarett received was over the top, Terrelle-O-Mania will be like going over Niagara Falls - without a barrel.

Tags: ohio state football, terrelle pryor